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MfHUR  Edward  PHii^l 


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AT   LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Charles   A.   Marsh 


THE   TONE    SYSTEM 

IN 

PUBLIC  SPEAKING  AND 
READING 


REVISED   EDITION 


A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  SOURCES  OP  EF- 
FECTIVENESS IN  ORAL  EXPRESSION  AND 
IN  THE  TEACHING  OF  ORAL  EXPi.ESSION, 
WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 


BY 

ARTHUR  EDWARD  PHILLIPS 

Antbor  of  "Effective  Speaking;"  Director,  Department  of  Public  Speaking,  the 

Theological  Seminary  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  at  Chi 

cago;  Principal,  Phillips  School  of  Oratory,  Chicago 


CHICAGO 

THE  NEWTON  COMPANY 

1910 


'  •*.  ;'.      •     • 

•    »      .'     '      ■ . 
J  »  J  .  .    .  ■ .  . 


COPTRIGHT,  1899,   1910, 
BY 

ARTHUR  EDWARD  PHILLIPS 
All  rights  reserved 


•  •••••   ;  •   .•  •         .'    «♦     •    .•    «'.•!••    ••   •    •    '  I  ' , 


CO 
CM 


3  PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION. 


This  book  is  born  of  a  desire  to  make  plain  and  practical 

J    that  which  I  beheve  to  be  the  main  source  of  effectiveness 

in   delivery — the   true  expression  of  feeling.    Constant 

observation  has  convinced  me  that  the  failure  to  speak 

<:  naturally  and  well  rarely  arises  from  inabihty  to  grasp 

3  or  express  thought,  but  almost  always  from  the  inabihty 

I  to  grasp  or  express  feeling.     By  feeling,  however,  is  not 

c  meant  the  "emotional'"  as  when  we  speak  of  an  emotional 

preacher,  but  earnestness,  that  certificate  from  the  soul 

J  that  the  thought  is  genuine  and  that  the  speaker  or  reader 

L  is  sincere. 

.        It  is  unfortunate  that  this  department  of  expression  has 

""  in  marked  degree  been  ignored,  and  that  "thought"  in  a 

confused  or  narrow  sense  has  received  almost  sole  consider- 

-^  ation.     I  beheve  this  to  be  due,  first,  to  the  failure  to 

3  perceive   the    universahty   of  the   symbols   of  emotion 

£  irrespective  of    the  language  in    which  the  emotion  is 

„  clothed,  and,  second,  to  the  failure  to  perceive  the  scope 

<  and  power  of  the  principle  of  reference  to  experience. 

In  elaborating  the  foregoing  statements,  in  the  work 

I   itself,  I  have  thought  it  wise  to  depart  from  the  veiled  and 

'  sometimes  insidious  references  that  have  characterized 

-I  text-books  on  elocution,  and,  instead,  to  state  frankly 

^  what  I  believe  to  be  wrong  or  right  in  existing  systems, 

and  my  reasons  therefor.    There  has  been  altogether  too 

much  flattery  and  adulation  in   pubhc  and    too    much 

o    abuse  and  condemnation  in  private,  in  pedagogical  circles 

\2    of  elocution  and  oratory.     If  a  thing  is  wrong  it  deserves 

III 


i 


PREFACE. 

to  be  condemned  openly,  if  right  it  deserves  to  be  praised 
openly,  and  he  who  has  the  true  interests  of  expression 
at  heart  will  not  shirk  the  responsibility  of  presenting  the 
results  of  careful  investigation,  please  or  displease  whom 
it  may. 

What  is  here  set  forth  is  not  the  impulsive  chronicling 
of  a  suddenly  conceived  idea,  but  the  result  of  several  years 
of  careful  inquiry,  and  whether  its  value  be  much  or  little, 
the  pains  were  many.  While  the  fact  of  tone  in  utterance 
is  by  no  means  new,  it  is  believed  that  there  is  here  pre- 
sented, for  the  first  time,  a  practical  method  by  which 
the  tone  principle  can  be  utilized  in  all  its  power. 

Special  thanks  are  due  to  Mrs.  Abbie  Birdsall-Phillips 
for  her  valuable  assistance,  and  also  to  Mr.  Charles  W. 
Phillips  for  his  keen,  comprehensive  and  fruitful  dis- 
cussion of  the  various  points  treated. 

Arthur  E.  Phillips. 
Chicago,  November,  1899. 


PREFACE  TO  REVISED  EDITION. 

In  this  revised  edition  of  "The  Tone  System"  the 
author  has  only  to  reiterate  what  he  said  in  the  preface 
to  the  first  edition,  but  with  even  greater  emphasis,  that 
"the  failure  to  speak  naturally  and  well  rarely  arises  from 
inabiUty  to  grasp  or  express  thought,  but  almost  always 
from  the  inability  to  grasp  or  express  feeling." 

The  apphcation  of  the  tone  principle,  indicated  in 
Part  II,  will  be  found  in  complete  detail  in  the  author's 
"Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections." 

A.  E.  P. 
Chicago,  April,  1910. 

IV 


CONTENTS 


PART  I. 

The  Tone  Principle, 
chapter.  page. 

I     The  Rush  or  Element  System 1 

II.     The  Subjective   System 8 

III.  The  Purpose  of  Elocution  and  Its  General  Classi- 

fication    17 

IV.  The  Sub-Classification  of  Vocal  Symbols 22 

V.    The  Place  and  Value  of  the  Tone  Symbols 27 

VI.    The  Place  and  Value  of  the  Tone  Symbols  (Con- 
tinued)   38 

VII.    The  Working  Principles  OF  Effective  Expression..  44 

VIII.     The  Further  Utility  of  the  Tone  Symbols  ....   58 

IX.     A  Summary 69 

PART  II. 

The  Application  of  the  Tone  Principle. 

I.     The  Tone  Drills 73 

II.     Dominant  Tones 80 

III.    Tonal  Analysis 86 

PART  III. 

The  Expression  of  Thought. 

I.     Prominence  and  Pause 95 

II.     Articulation 98 

APPENDIX. 

I.     Method  of  Study  and  Practice  of  Expression.  .  103 

II.     Example  of  Method  of  Arrangement  of  SelectionsIOS 

III.     Topics  for  Speeches  with  Dominant  Tones Ill 


PART  I. 
THE  TONE  PRINCIPLE. 


THE    TONE     SYSTEM 

IN 

PUBLIC   SPEAKING  AND    READING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  RUSH  OR  ELEMENT  SYSTEM. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  offer  some  reasons  for  the  ineffec- 
tiveness that  has  in  large  part  characterized  oral  expression 
and  instruction  in  oral  expression,  and,  further,  to  set 
down  a  few  principles  the  application  of  which  it  is  beUeved 
will,  to  some  extent,  do  away  with  this  ineffectiveness. 
Necessary  to  this  is  an  examination  of  elocutionary 
methods  as  set  forth  in  the  works  recognized  as  authorities. 

In  1827  there  was  pubhshed  a  book  whose  influence 
is  still  felt,  and  which,  until  recently,  dominated  elocution- 
ary instruction  in  America.  This  book  w^as  entitled 
"The  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Voice,  embracing  its 
Physiological  History,  together  with  a  system  of  principles 
by  which  criticism  in  the  art  of  elocution  may  be  rendered 
intelhgible,  and  instruction  definite  and  comprehensive." 
The  author  was  Dr.  James  Rush,  of  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Rush  in  his  introduction  tells  us:  "The  analysis 
of  the  human  voice  contained  in  the  following  essay, 


2  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

was  undertaken  some  years  ago,  exclusively  as  a  subject 
of  physiological  enquiry.  Upon  the  discovery  of  some 
essential  functions  of  speech,  I  was  induced  to  pursue  the 
investigation,  and  subsequently  to  attempt  a  methodical 
description  of  all  the  vocal  phenomena,  with  a  view  to 
bring  the  subject  within  the  limits  of  science,  and  thereby 
to  assist  the  purpose  of  oratorical  instruction."  And 
further  on  he  says:  "The  following  essay  exhibits  an  at- 
tempt to  delineate  the  varying  modes  of  speech  with  a 
precise  analysis  which  may  render  criticism  instructive 
and  afford  to  future  times  the  means  of  comprehending 
its  discrimination."  In  the  work  itself  he  tells  us,  in 
the  first  section:  "All  the  varieties  of  sound  in  the  human 
voice  may  be  referred  to  the  following  heads:  quahty, 
force,  time,  abruptness,  pitch.  The  detail  of  these  five 
genera,  and  of  the  multiplied  combination  of  their  species, 
includes  the  enumeration  of  the  expressive  powers  of 
speech."  Then  follows,  section  after  section,  the  most 
minute  analysis  of  all  vocal  phenomena 

Having  completed  his  analysis,  he  somewhat  briefly 
but  specifically  applies  his  discoveries  to  the  vocal  ex- 
pression of  the  passions.     He  tells  us  that  "admiration  is 
shown  by  the  rising  third,  fifth  and  octave.    The  octave 
has  the  power  of  raillery.     When  the  guttural  emphasis 
is  united  with  these  intervals  it  adds  scorn  to  a  question. 
The  downward  third,  fifth  and  octave  are  given  to  phrases 
significant    of    authority,    command,    confidence,    and 
satisfaction.     Sorrow,  grief,  vexation,  chagrin,  etc.,  with 
all  the  differences  that  may  exist  between  them,  are  still 
expressed  by  this  intonation  of  the  wave  of  the  semitone. 
Radical  stress  is  employed  on  the  imperative  words  of 
authority.      The  tremor  of  the  second  and  of  higher 
intervals  is  shown  in  the  expression  of  exultation,  mirth, 
pride,  haughtiness,  sneer,  derision,  contempt." 


THE  ELEMENT  SYSTEM.  3 

Of  the  mode  of  instruction  in  elocution  he  tells  us: 
"I  have  thus  far  set  before  the  eye  of  philosophy  a  copy  of 
the  designs  of  nature,  in  the  construction  of  human  speech. 
It  is  necessary,  if  I  may  carry  on  the  figure,  to  furnish  at 
the  same  time  a  'working  plan'  to  him  who  may  wish  to 
build  up  for  himself  a  fame  in  elocution;"  and  a  little  later, 
"If  I  were  a  teacher  of  elocution  I  would  form  into  a  didac- 
tic system  the  mode  of  practice  by  which  the  analysis 
contained  in  this  work  was  accomplished,  and  would 
assign  to  my  pupil  a  task  imder  the  following  heads: 
Practice  on  the  alphabetic  elements;  practice  on  the  time 
of  elements;  practice  on  the  vanishing  movement;  prac- 
tice on  force;  practice  on  stress;  practice  on  pitch; 
practice  on  melody;  practice  on  the  cadence;  practice 
on  the  tremor;  practice  on  the  quahty."  "The  pupil 
is  to  learn  not  only  the  names  of  the  notes  (alphabetic 
elements),  but  all  their  varieties."  "Let  the  student 
reiterate  his  tonics  and  subtonics  until  he  finds  himself 
possessed  of  such  a  command  over  them,  that  he  may 
give  any  required  quantity  to  their  syllabic  combinations," 
(page  351),  and  "The  pupil,  without  confusing  his  ear 
by  other  particulars,  should  exercise  himself  in  the  natural 
radical  and  vanish  on  all  the  extendible  elements.  In 
this  elementary  intonation  of  the  equal  concrete,  particular 
attention  should  be  paid  to  the  structure  of  the  vanish. 
The  pupil  must  therefore  endeavor  to  attain  that  delicate 
expiration  which  may  render  its  limit  almost  impercept- 
ible." And  under  "Pitch,"  "I  would  have  every  interval 
of  pitch  both  in  an  upward  and  downward  direction, 
and  in  concrete  movement  and  radical  change,  practiced 
in  every  tonic  and  subtonic  element."  Also,  "that  the 
pupil  may  ascertain  when  he  is  executing  a  downward  in- 
terval, let  him  familiarize  his  ear  to  the  effect  of  the  last 


4  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

constituent  of  a  cadence,  consisting  of  a  gradual  descent 
upon  three  distinct  syllables;"  and  further,  "I  would  have 
the  pupil  in  going  through  the  elements,  play  upon  them 
in  the  movement  of  the  wave." 

From  these  quotations  which  I  have  made  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  purpose  of  Rush  was  twofold.  First,  to 
set  down  accurately  and  minutely  the  physiological  phe- 
nomena of  the  voice.  Second,  to  establish  a  system  of 
instruction  based  on  these  recorded  and  classified  phe- 
nomena. 

His  first  purpose  he  attained  so  thoroughly  and  so 
satisfactorily  that  all  subsequent  investigators  have 
found  little  to  add  or  take  away.  His  analysis,  in  the 
main,  stands  unchallenged. 

Also,  in  marked  degree,  he  attained  his  second  purpose. 
As  I  write  I  have  beside  me  book  upon  book  published  in 
America  upon  the  subject  of  elocution,  and  with  few  ex- 
ceptions they  all  follow,  and  follow  closely,  the  Rush 
system.  One  noted  writer  in  the  introduction  to  his 
work  says:  "I  have  labored  to  simplify  and  make  practical 
Dr.  Rush's  'Philosophy  of  the  Voice,'  which  I  consider  the 
most  complete  system  ever  offered  to  the  student  of 
elocution,"  and  in  the  body  of  the  work  the  author  is 
constantly  reproducing  the  terminology  and  illustrative 
matter  of  Dr.  Rush.  In  another  work  on  oral  expression 
that  has  run  through  many  editions,  we  find  the  author 
elaborating  his  title  thus:  "A  Manual  of  Elementary 
Exercises  for  the  Cultivation  of  the  Voice  in  Elocution, 
founded  upon  Dr.  James  Rush's  'Philosophy  of  the  Hu- 
man Voice.'  "  And  in  yet  another  representative  text 
we  find  the  authors  acknowledging  Rush  as,  in  large 
part,  the  father  of  their  methods.  So  numerous,  ui  fact, 
are  the  text  books  that  base  their  method  on  the  perception 


THE   ELEMENT   SYSTEM.  5 

of  the  elements  that  one  is  justified  in  the  statement  that 
the  Rush  or  element  system  has  been  the  very  core  of 
elocutionary  instruction  m  America. 

By  referring  to  the  quotations  from  Rush  we  can  see 
that  he  sought  to  attain  excellence  in  the  art  of  delivery 
by  means  of  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  elements  of  vocal 
sound.  Rush  argued  that  as  inteUigible  human  sound  exhi- 
bits phenomena,  which  he  styled  "pitch,"  "force,"  "time," 
"quality,"  "abruptness,"  the  proper  way  to  become  a 
master  of  expression  lay  in  the  practice  upon,  and  applica- 
tion of,  these  elements,  and  these  elements  considered 
separately.  Says  Rush:  "Let  the  master  and  the  scholar 
meet  without  books.  Let  the  master  exemplify  the  grace- 
ful spring  of  the  vanish,  the  effect  of  the  second  and  of 
intervals  of  pitch.  Let  him  make  the  scholar  sensible 
of  the  difference  of  these  intervals  of  separate  utterance. 
Let  him  show  the  peculiarities  of  a  rising  and  falling  move- 
ment; in  short,  let  his  lessons  consist  of  his  alphabet  of 
vocal  functions  throughout  the  whole  of  the  elements. 
Let  the  scholar  practice  these  things  as  a  task  when  he 
retires,  let  it  not  be  to  hear  him  read  and  vainly  try  to 
imitate  him,  but  to  repeat  his  practiced  elements  and  to 
hit  at  once  any  required  mode  of  voice." 

Following  conscientiously  the  method  laid  down  by 
Rush,  a  student  finds  himself  studying  speech  in  its 
elemental  form.  His  study  is  in  sections.  He  takes  the 
element  "a"  and  he  practices  upon  it,  first  in  respect  to 
its  possible  variations  in  pitch,  force,  time,  and  so  forth. 
He  has  to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  structure  of 
"the  vanish  in  the  equable  concrete,"  to  "practice  every 
interval  of  pitch  both  in  an  upward  and  downward  direc- 
tion" and  in  "concrete  movement  and  radical  change;" 
he  has  to  "famiharize  his  ear  to  the  effect  of  the  last  con- 


6  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

stituent  of  a  cadence,"  and  he  must  play  upon  the  "a" 
in  "the  movement  of  the  wave."  Then,  too,  the  student's 
attention  is  directed  to  the  vocal  phenomenon  called 
"stress."  Having  educated  the  ear  to  this  phenomenon, 
he  is  told  that  he  must  practice  it  until  he  is  able  to  pro- 
duce with  perfect  precision  the  "vanishing"  stress,  the 
"radical"  stress,  and  other  phases.  He  must  so  work 
on  what  is  called  the  "tremor"  of  the  voice  until  his  execu- 
tion of  it  satisfies  his  ear,  and  so  on  throughout  all  the 
variations  of  the  elements. 

Had  Rush  stopped  here,  had  he  contented  himself  with 
setting  down  a  series  of  elementary  exercises  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  voice,  the  world  of  expression  would  have 
little  cause  to  quarrel  with  him.  It  might  disagree  as  to 
the  value  of  so  much  isolated,  soulless  drill,  but  the  ques- 
tion would  be  one  of  the  relative  values  of  various  systems 
of  voice-building.  And  even  then  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  system  of  vocal  training  for  the  purposes  of 
speech  can  entirely  ignore  the  principles  of  Rush. 

But  Rush  went  further.  Having  attained  a  mechan- 
ical exactness  in  the  numerous  exercises  set  down,  the 
student  is  then  to  apply  these  elements  to  the  reading 
aloud  of  literature!  And  here  Rush  made  a  momentous 
mistake.  Once  his  philosophy  was  seized  upon  and 
adopted  in  relation  to  interpretation,  it  caused  its  followers 
to  look  to  externals  alone,  and  in  time  begot  such  artificial- 
ity that  the  term  elocution  became  a  by-word.  The 
student's  attention  was  taken  from  the  very  essence  of 
speech,  the  thought  and  feeling,  and  concentrated  upon  the 
mechanical  execution  of  vocal  elements  as  such. 

For  example,  the  student  turns  to  a  page  of  a  noted 
Rush  text-book  and  finds  there  three  lines  of  Milton's 
Morning  Hymn; 


THE  ELEMENT  SYSTEM.  7 

"His  praise,  ye  winds  that  from  four  quarters  blow, 
Breathe  soft  or  loud;  and  wave  your  tops,  ye  pines, 
With  every  plant,  in  sign  of  worship  wave." 

The  student  notes  the  text  book  comments— "effusive 
orotund,"  "subdued  force,"  "full  and  prolonged  median 
swell,"  "low  pitch,"  "equal  wave  of  the  second."  Follow- 
ing his  instructions  and  training,  the  Rush  disciple 
proceeds.  He  concentrates  his  mind  upon  the  "effusive 
orotund;"  he  tries  to  reproduce  it;  next  he  puts  his  mind 
on  "subdued  force,"  he  tries  hard,  very  hard  to  add  that; 
next  he  passes  to  "median  swell,"  tries  heroically  to  com- 
bine this  with  the  others,  and  then,  struggling  with  these, 
he  makes  a  desperate  effort  to  include  "low  pitch"  and 
"equal  wave  of  the  second!"  What  is  the  result?  What 
must  be  the  result  ?  An  execution  precise  and  mechanical. 
Has  the  student  thought  of  the  meaning  of  the  lines? 
Has  he  felt  their  beauty?  their  purpose?  Ask  him. 
He  will  tell  you  he  thought  only  of  the  "orotund,"  "sub- 
dued force,"  "low  pitch"  and  of  the  "equal  wave  of  the 
second."  And  why?  Because  he  is  trained  to  look  for 
elements,  for  the  anatomy  of  speech.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  we  find  individuals,  year  in  and  year  out,  standing 
before  audiences,  public  and  private,  and  reading  or  speak- 
ing with  soulless  precision? 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE   SUBJECTIVE    SYSTEM. 


I  have  said  that  the  Rush  or  element  system  dominated 
the  elocutionary  realm  for  half  a  century,  and  still  holds 
supreme  sway  in  certain  quarters.  It  was,  however, 
inevitable  that  with  the  changes  taking  place  in  the  in- 
dustrial and  intellectual  world  there  would  sooner  or 
later  come  a  revolt.  Some  truthseeker  would  perceive 
the  artificial  structure  so  conspicuously  erected  by  Rush, 
and  seek  to  overturn  it.    This  was  the  case. 

Almost  simultaneously  there  appeared  two  series  of 
works  that,  both  by  implication  and  direct  reference, 
attacked  the  element  system.  In  opposition  to  the  Rush 
view  these  writers  contend  that  reading  and  speaking  are 
subjective,  and  must  proceed  from  withm,  that  there  must 
be  something  in  the  mind  before  anything  can  come  out 
of  the  mind,  and  they  proceed  to  develop  a  system  on 
these  subjective  lines  which,  they  contend,  will  do  away 
with  artificiality.  That  I  may  present  this  view  fairly 
I  quote  liberally  from  the  work  of  one  of  the  leaders  of 
this  school. 

In  the  introduction  to  one  of  his  works  this  author 
says:  "Vocal  expression  is  the  most  subjective  and  spon- 
taneous form  of  art;  it  is  the  most  immediate  manifesta- 
tion of  thought  and  feeling.    It  does  not  represent  pro- 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  SYSTEM.  9 

ducts,  but  manifests  processes;  it  reveals  emotions  and 
conditions;  it  is  the  outbreathing  of  the  soul.  This  book 
is  an  endeavor  to  meet  the  problem  of  deHvery  from  an- 
other point  of  view  (different  from  Rush  and  others), 
and  to  arrange  some  steps  for  its  improvement  different 
from  either  of  the  two  methods  commonly  in  use  (imitative 
and  mechanical).  There  is  an  endeavor  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  technical  actions  of  vocal  expression  must  be 
studied  side  by  side  with  the  actions  of  the  mind,  which 
they  manifest.  Everything  proceeds  from  the  principle 
that  in  natural  expression  every  modulation  of  the  voice 
is  the  direct  effect  of  some  action  or  condition  of  the  mind, 
and  that  very  frequently,  wrong  action  of  deHvery  can  be 
traced  to  wrong  action  in  thinking,  such  as  one-sided- 
ness,  lack  of  control  over  emotion,  lack  of  imagination, 
or  the  fact  that  conception  is  too  abstract,"  and  "deHvery 
is  a  question  of  responsiveness."  And  again  "The 
fundam.ental  element  of  expression  is  thinking;  all  ex- 
pression is  primarily  an  effort  to  reveal  thought."  And 
further  on, — "Here,  then,  are  the  fundamental  requisites 
of  reading  and  speaking,  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  nature  and  the  human  mind;  impression  must  precede 
expression;  the  act  of  thinking  must  be  accentuated; 
there  must  he  developed  the  power  to  pause  and  hold  the 
mind  upon  one  idea  until  a  conception  arises  so  vivid  as  to 
create  a  response.  True  expression  is  based  primarily  upon 
this  mental  action."  And  later, — "Expression  must  be 
simply  transparent  thinking.  To  improve  expression, 
therefore,  thinking  must  be  made  stronger.  No  super- 
ficial rules,  no  aggregation  of  artificial  tricks,  can  ever 
furnish  substitutes  for  the  Hving  act  of  thought." 

From  these  extracts  it  will  be  seen  clearly  that  the 
pivotal  point  of  the  subjective  method  is  the  grasping  by 


10  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

the  speaker  or  the  reader  of  the  thought;  that  if  the  stu- 
dent will  take  a  passage  and  think  over  it,  right  expression 
will  come. 

Duly  considering  all  that  is  here  insisted  upon,  I  con- 
tend that  this  system  has  been  of  little  direct  benefit  to  the 
average  student  of  delivery.  The  reason  for  this  conten- 
tion is  to  be  found  in  the  truth  that  in  order  to  secure 
effective  expression  it  is  not  enough  to  ask  a  student  simply 
to  see  and  feel  the  thing  to  be  expressed,  or,  to  phrase  it 
differently,  true  responsiveness  will  rarely  follow  the  act 
of  simple  contemplation. 

Throughout  the  book  referred  to,  there  are  problems 
which  the  student  is  to  solve.  We  have:  "To  develop  vocal 
expression,  therefore,  become  conscious  of  the  impulse  to 
express.  Meditate  upon  some  beautiful  poem  or  passage 
of  good  literature,  until  something  of  the  feeling  that  dom- 
inated the  heart  of  the  author  is  awakened,  then  simply 
give  it  voice  and  become  conscious  of  the  spontaneous 
tendency  of  noble  thought  and  feeling  to  dominate  voice 
and  body."  And  then  follow  some  lines  from  Tennyson's 
Sir  Galahad: 

"Sometimes  on  lonely  mountain-meres, 

I  find  a  magic  bark; 
I  leap  on  board;  no  helmsman  steers; 

I  float  till  all  is  dark. 
A  gentle  sound,  an  awful  light; 

Three  angels  bear  the  Holy  Grail; 
With  folded  feet,  in  stoles  of  white, 

On  sleeping  wings  they  sail!" 

Now  given  a  student  who  is  already  possessed  of  a 
sensitive  and  responsive  organism,  and  the  instruction  to 
meditate  may  be  productive  of  excellent  results.     But 


\ 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  SYSTEM.  11 

,  unfortunately  the  average  person  is  not  gifted  with  this 
dramatic  temperament,  and  while  this  exercise  may  aid 
him  a  httle  it  will  certainly  not  achieve  the  desired  end. 

It  is  contended,  and  by  actual  test  I  have  demonstrated 
it,  over  and  over  again,  that  some  students  might  "medi- 
tate" upon  this  passage  until  doomsday  and  never  be  able 
to  reproduce  the  true  emotions  that  lie  in  these  fine  lines. 
It  is  useless  to  say  they  do  not  try;  they  do.  It  is  also 
useless  to  argue  that  they  do  not  know  how  to  "meditate." 
If  they  do  not  know  how,  then  clearly  the  problem  is 
an  impracticable  one,  and  the  student  must  first  learn  to 
meditate  in  general  before  he  tries  to  meditate  on  these 
lines  in  particular. 

Again,  we  have:  "Take  some  animated  extract, 
vividly  conceive  each  idea,  and  yield  to  its  influence. 
See,  feel,  and  tell  simply  and  naturally  only  what  has 
been  seen  and  felt."  Here  again  the  criticism  is  that  the 
ordinary  student  cannot  see,  feel  and  tell  other  people's 
thoughts  and  feelings  naturally.  And  quite  hkely  the 
student  will  immediately  tell  the  instructor  that  that  is 
the  very  thing  in  which  he  seeks  help.  It  is  true  the 
problem  is  to  tell  only  what  has  been  seen  and  felt,  but 
while  much  may  be  seen  and  felt  inwardly,  quite  often 
very  httle  or  nothing  has  been  seen  and  felt  expressively. 
What  teacher  has  not  had  a  scholar  say  to  him,  in  effect, 
of  Tennyson's  Bugle  Song:  "Yes,  sir,  I  see  all.  I  see 
the  long  light  and  I  see  the  light  shake  across  the  lakes, 
and  I  see  a  cataract  leap  with  glory,  but  I  cannot  express 
all  this."  He  has  done  right  thinking,  but  his  organism 
is  not  responsive.  And  this  is  the  one  great  problem — 
how  to  make  a  student  harmoniously  and  completely  re- 
sponsive. 

Surely,  it  is  sheer  nonsense  to  tell  a  student  that  he 


12  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

must  keep  on  thinking  about  lights  shaking  across  the  ^^ 
lake  until  his  organism  responds.  ("Pause  and  hold  the 
mind  upon  one  idea  until  a  conception  arises  so  vivid  as  to 
create  a  response.")  If  this  be  necessary,  then  ninety-nine 
persons  out  of  a  hundred  will  never  read  well.  I  repeat 
that  how  to  arouse  this  necessary  responsiveness  is  the 
great  problem  of  instruction  in  oral  expression  and  the 
problem  which  the  subjective  system  has  not  solved. 
If  the  problem  is  solved  by  meditation,  incidentally  it 
may  be  asked  what  provision  is  made  in  cases  where  the 
reader's  convictions  or  tastes  are  antagonistic  to  the 
thought  to  be  dwelt  upon?  How  long,  for  instance, 
would  an  atheist  require  to  meditate  in  order  to  give  spon- 
taneous expression  to  Pope's  "The  Dying  Christian?" 
Must  a  man  who  would  portray  lago  wait  until  his  con- 
templation of  lago  arouses  spontaneously  all  lago's 
deviHsh  feelings?  Is  not  the  man's  utter  abhorrence  of 
lago  an  effective  bar  to  spontaneous  expression  from 
meditation? 

My  second  criticism  of  the  purely  subjective  system 
is  that  consciously  or  unconsciously  its  advocates  fall  into 
artificial  methods  much  after  the  Rush  style.  For 
instance,  not  Rush  himself  with  all  his  philosophic  and 
analytic  skill  treats  of  the  element  "inflection"  with  the 
exhaustiveness  that  we  find  in  some  of  the  text  books 
of  the  subjective  method.  They  apparently  ignore 
their  intention  of  concentrating  the  mind  of  the  student 
solely  upon  the  synthetic  form  of  speech  and  instead 
examine  with  the  minutest  detail  the  various  phenomena 
of  an  element,  inflection! 

This  element  of  inflection,  it  may  be  remarked,  nas 
been  the  bugbear  of  all  writers  upon  elocution.  Even 
before  the  time  of  Rush,  and  most  markedly  since,  elocu- 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  SYSTEM.  13 

tionists  have  bowed  down  before  its  awful  front.  And  yet, 
truth  compels  the  statement  that  inflection  as  such  has 
absolutely  no  place  in  a  system  of  practical  instruction  in 
interpretation.  As  will  be  sho\Mi  later,  it  is  not  truly  a 
symbol,  and  gives  place  to  a  more  comprehensive  and 
more  practical  principle. 

Coming  now  to  precise  statements  regarding  inflection, 
we  find  in  a  standard  subjective  text  book:  "Minor 
inflections  present  many  difficulties;  in  general  they 
suggest  a  chromatic  scale,  while  major  inflections  suggest 
the  diatonic  scale.  Minor  inflections  are  manifestive  of 
weakness.  Such  weakness  may  be  physical  or  mental, 
or  it  m^ay  be  due  to  a  lack  of  volitional  control.  Major 
inflections  predominate  in  the  expression  of  all  normal 
emotions  or  character."  Major  and  minor  inflections? 
chromatic  scale?  diatonic?  It  reads  hke  a  verbatim 
transcript  from  Rush.  What  is  this  but  forcing  the 
student's  attention  upon  those  very  isolated  elements 
which  are  so  loudly  condemned?  And  again:  "Give 
some  simple  passage,  first  indifferently  and  then  with  gen- 
uine earnestness,  without  increasing  loudness,  and  observe 
the  effect  upon  the  inflections."  Is  this  not  taking  the 
mind  from  its  earnestness  and  putting  it  upon  an  external? 
Is  this  not  artificial?  And  further:  "Make  the  emphatic 
word  of  a  clause  salient  by  a  falling  inflection,  and  subor- 
dinate the  unemphatic  words  by  giving  them  the  same 
inflection,  but  shorter  and  upon  a  much  lower  pitch. 
Reverse  the  form  and  give  rising  inflection."  Here  the 
student  is  to  take  his  mind  from  the  thought  and  feeling 
and  concentrate  it  upon  the  isolated  element  "inflection" 
douTiward  and  upward.  Surely  this  is  in  contradiction  of 
the  "'think  the  thought"  precept,  and  most  distinctly  arti- 
ficifti.     And  again:    "Read  some  passage,  taking  time  to 


14  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

realize  intensely  each  successive  idea  before  giving  it 
expression,  and  so  vary  the  pitch  and  other  modulations 
of  the  voice  as  to  show  that  the  period  of  silence  was 
necessary  on  account  of  this  mental  activity."  Vary  the 
pitch?  The  pitch!  Again  I  ask  if  this  is  not  artificial. 
And  further  on:  "Give  lines  full  of  kingly  dignity, 
authority,  intensity,  or  such  elements  as  will  naturally 
increase  force,  and  express  them  by  greater  decision  of 
touch  and  variety  of  pitches  and  pauses,  but  without  in 
creasing  loudness."  Again  we  behold  mechanics.  Th 
student  is  told  to  concentrate  his  mind  upon  "greater  de 
cision  of  touch,"  and  upon  expressing  a  given  line  with  a 
"variety  of  pitches  and  pauses,"  and  at  the  same  time,  if 
we  can  conceive  the  possibility  of  the  complex  proceed- 
ing, he  must  not  increase  his  loudness.  What  becomes  of 
the  thought  and  feeling  in  this  exercise?  Is  it  not  the 
purest  mechanics?  The  unavoidable  conclusion  in  the 
face  of  these  illustrations  and  quotations  is,  that  the 
subjective  system,  while  masterful  in  its  attack  upon  the 
element  system,  fails  when  it  attempts  to  meet  pedagogical 
demands. 

It  may  seem  strange  in  the  face  of  this  to  say  that  the 
subjective  system  is  acceptable  so  far  as  it  goes.  Yet  such 
is  the  fact.  No  one  can  take  exception  to  the  fundamental 
its  advocates  have  insisted  upon.  For  while  meditation 
upon  the  thought  may  not  produce  responsiveness  (as 
already  shown),  it  cannot  fail  to  prove  an  excellent  mental 
discipline,  and  result  in  more  accurate  thinking.  And 
no  system  of  elocutionary  instruction  can  be  called  rational 
which  omits  this  principle  of  "thinking  thg  thought;" 
and  it  may  even  be  asserted  that  with  the  student  of  deh- 
cate  sensibilities  the  subjective  system  may  be  adequate. 

But  after  this  has  been  said,  all  has  been  said.  .The 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PURPOSE    OF    ELOCUTION    AND    ITS    GENERAL    CLASSI- 
FICATION. 

As  a  science,  elocution  deals  with  the  examination 
and  classification  of  all  phenomena  of  delivery  intelligible 
to  the  listener;  in  other  words,  a  treatment  of  the  principles 
underlying  intelligibility  in  utterance.  As  an  art,  elocu- 
tion concerns  itself  with  the  application  of  these  prin- 
ciples. 

When  a  man  speaks,  what  is  his  purpose?    It  is  to  put 
all  the  thoughts  and  feelings  his  language  is  intended  to 
contain,  into  the  mind  and  soul  of  another.     Elocution  is  f^ 
not  "speaking  out,"  as  has  been  so  constantly  iterated,  »^ 
but  "speaking  to;"  not  "elocution,"  but  "allocution;"  it,  •^ 
perforce,  implies  a  listener.     It  is  a  telling,  and,  in  fact, 
might  not  be  inaptly  termed  the  science  and  art  of  teUing. 
Man  separated  from  his  fellow  would  have  no  use  for 
elocution. 

The  all  comprehensive  purpose,  then,  of  elocution  is 
'dbjective.  Its  aim  is  intelligibility.  Its  method  of  pro- 
cedure must  be  altruistic.  It  implies  that  the  speaker, 
if  he  would  realize  his  aim,  must  adjust  himself  to  the 
capacities  of  another,  and,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
must  consider  self  not  at  all  in  order  that  self  may  be 

17 


18  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

considered  most.  Not  to  deal  in  riddles,  the  speaker,  no 
matter  how  strongly  he  may  desire  to  utter  the  language 
in  a  certain  manner,  must  give  up  that  desire,  and  be 
governed  by  the  powers  of  comprehension  of  the  listener, 
in  order  that  a  higher  desire,  the  desire  to  impart  the 
thought  and  feeling  to  the  listener,  may  be  gratified. 

Because  I  here  assert  that  elocution  is  first  and  fore- 
most an  objective  affair,  let  it  not  be  hastily  inferred  that 
I  deny  that  elocution  has  in  it  considerations  which  are 
properly  classified  under  the  head  of  subjective.  Far  from 
it.  I  admit  the  place  of  the  subjective.  But  I  assert  that 
a  consideration  of  elocution  to  be  scientific,  demands  that 
the  subject  shall  be  treated  as  finding  its  foundation  in  the 
objective  world.  And  I  go  further,  and  assert  that  any  one 
who  at  any  moment  of  his  study  ignores  the  inherent  ob- 
jective nature  of  elocution,  will  lose  his  true  expressional 
compass,  and  in  all  likelihood  make  false  courses.  That 
chaos  exists  in  respect  to  a  scientific  treatment  of  elocution, 
may  be  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  writers  have  not  this  com- 
pass, or  possessing  it,  constantly  forget  to  use  it. 

To  insist  that  expression  is  wholly  a  subjective  concern 
is  to  presume  that  because  a  speaker  sees  or  feels  a  given 
thought  or  emotion  it  follows  that  the  listener  also  does,  a 
presumption  not  warranted  in  practice.  A  listener  will 
interpret  a  sign  or  a  symbol,  vocal  or  gestural,  as  meaning 
what  it  has  always  meant  to  him,  whether  that  meaning 
was  intended  by  the  speaker  or  not.  Interpreted  strictly 
the  subjective  method  implies  not  only  a  total  disregard 
of  the  listener's  capacities,  but  insists  upon  the  death 
of  art  in  elocution.  It  would  enthrone  egoistic  impulse 
as  the  sole  sovereign  of  effective  deUvery.  Judgment 
would  no  longer  share  in  the  sway. 

Treating  the  subject  from  its  objective  side,  we  proceed 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  ELOCUTION.  19 


o  consider  the  listener.  A  person  has  just  spoken.  Now 
ow  did  the  hstener  get  the  speaker's  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings? He  will  tell  you,  through  his  senses.  Ask  him 
further  and  he  tells  you  that  he  got  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  by  means  of  certain  phenomena.  These  phenom- 
ena were  reported  by  the  senses  to  the  brain  and  there 
were  interpreted  to  mean  certain  things,  or,  there  volun- 
tarily or  involuntarily  aroused  certain  states.  Asked  to 
particularize,  the  hstener  tells  us  that  he  saw  the  speaker's 
arms  move  in  a  certain  way;  he  saw  the  face  take  on  a 
certain  look;  he  observed  the  physique  and  apparel  and 
general  appearance  of  the  speaker,  and  further  he  heard 
certain  vocal  sounds.  All  these,  taken  together,  the 
listener  tells  us,  gave  him  the  thoughts  and  feelings.  That 
is  to  say,  all  these  phenomena  represented  or  stood  for 
thoughts  and  feelings.  To  the  listener  they  were  symbols 
picturing  the  speaker's  mind  and  soul. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  some  will  object  to  the  use  of 
the  word  s3anbols  and  insist  that  I  should  use  "signs"  as 
being  more  accurate.  To  this  I  answer  that  I  have  either 
to  take  a  term  that  is  too  narrow  or  one  that  is  too  broad. 
Symbols  may  not  strictly  embrace  all  the  phenomena  of 
telling,  but  signs  would  embrace  much  more,  and,  as  one 
of  the  definitions  of  symbols  reads  thus,  "The  sign  or  repre- 
sentation of  something  moral  or  intellectual  by  the  images 
or  properties  of  natural  things,"  I  feel  justffied  in  using 
its  plural  as  the  generic  name  for  all  those  phenomena 
which  the  listener  must  interpret  in  order  to  get  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  speaker. 

We  see,  then,  that  what  might  be  called  the  inter- 
mediate agents  between  the  speaker  and  the  listener  are 
symbols,  and  the  great  concern  of  the  speaker  will  be  the 
fullest  comprehension  of  their  relative  value  and  signi- 
ficance. 


^ 


20  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

The  classification  of  the  symbols  of  thought  and  feeling  j 
that  has  hitherto  been  adopted  by  writers  on  elocution  is  ' 
open  to  criticism.  Some  would  seem  to  consider  that 
elocution  is  concerned  solely  with  the  vocal  organs;  others 
apparently  fix  the  boundaries  at  pantomimic  expression. 
But  if  elocution  be  concerned  with  all  the  means  by 
which  the  listener  gets  the  thoughts  and  feelings  from  the 
speaker  then  its  scope  is  wider,  and  instead  of  one  or  two 
general  heads,  a  complete  classification  of  elocutionary 
symbols  demands  three. 

We   enter   an    auditorium.     Before    us   is   a    pubHc 
speaker.     He  says  not  a  word,  makes  not  a  movement, 
yet  he  is  telling  us  something.     We  note  his  clothes; 
their  make  and  fit;  we  note  his  physique,  his  rotundity  or.-  •? 
spareness;    we  observe  closely  his  face  and  head;    from     ' 
top  to  toe  we  examine  him.     Each  of  these  things  that    \\ 
we  observe  is  a  symbol,  standing  for  this  or  that.     One    -4 
inclines  you  to  the  belief  that  he  is  honest,  another  tells 
you  he  is  neat,  yet  another  symboHzes  sociability,  and 
every  symbol,  separately  or  in  conjunction,  has  talked 
to  you  of  the  speaker  and  told  you  something  about  him. 
y'Such  symbols  as  these  are  so  markedly  of  one  kind  as  to 
demand  a  separate  classification  and  may  be  denoted  as 
symbols  of  personality. 

The  remaining  two  generic  heads  are  more  easily 
defined.  Let  us  suppose  our  speaker  arises  and  begins  to 
talk.  Throughout  his  speaking  we  find  a  great  variety  of 
movements  and  a  great  variety  of  sounds.  It  will  give 
us  a  very  intelligible  and  clearly  marked  classification  of 
these  if  we  set  down  all  movements  of  the  body  and  its 
parts  perceptible  to  the  eye  of  the  hstener,  all  changes  of 
position, under  the  head  of  action,  symbols  made  by  action. 
And  all  intelHgible  sounds  made  by  the  vocal  organs 
under  the  head  of  vocal  symbols,  symbols  made  by  voice. 


1 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  ELOCUTION. 


21 


Thus,  then,  the  three  generic  heads  under  which  come 
the  phenomena  of  delivery  are  Personahty,  Action, 
Voice. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SUB-CLASSIFICATION  OF  VOCAL  SYMBOLS. 

As  a  sub-classification  of  the  symbols  of  voice,  Rush,  as 
we  have  seen,  sets  down  the  following:  quality,  force, 
time,  abruptness,  and  pitch.  And  the  larger  part  of  his 
work  is  taken  up  with  evidence  that  in  these  five  genera 
are  included  the  expressive  powers  of  speech. 

The  mistake  Rush  made  here  was  in  considering  these 
five  genera  as  in  themselves  symbols.  The  term  symbol, 
as  here  used,  means  something  which  is  in  itself  intelli- 
gible. Now,  these  five  genera  of  Rush,  pitch,  force, 
quality,  time,  abruptness,  have  not,  separately,  this 
intelligibility,  and,  therefore,  remarks  upon  them,  as  to 
their  isolated  significance,  are  of  little  practical  value  to 
the  student.  Pitch,  for  instance,  is  never,  in  speech, 
separated  from  some  of  the  varieties  of  time — time  from 
quahty — quahty  from  force — as  Rush  himself  asserts. 
Every  human  sound  invariably  contains  them  all.  And, 
what  is  of  supreme  importance  here,  it  is  only  in  their 
combination  that  they  become  intelligible.  A  Ustener 
never  interprets  utterance  by  saying  to  himself,  "The 
speaker's  pitch  stands  for  this,  his  stress  for  that,  his 
quality  for  so  and  so".  He  takes  the  sound  as  a  synthetic 
whole  and  understands  it  to  represent  certain  thoughts  or 
feeUngs.     Never  for  a  moment  does  his  mind  dwell  upon 

22 


THE  VOCAL  SYMBOLS.  23 

force,  quality,  abruptness,  as  such,  and  if  it  did,  the 
probability  is  that  the  thoughts  and  feelings  would  be 
wholly  lost  to  him. 

It  is  argued,  therefore,  that  pitch,  time,  quality  and  the 
other  elements,  in  isolation,  are  not  entitled  to  the  term 
symbols,  taking  the  term  symbols  to  mean  intelligible  phe- 
nomena. And  yet,  as  we  have  already  seen,  and  are  still 
to  see,  these  five  elements  have  been  the  source  of  all  elo- 
cutionary dicta.  Not  a  text  book,  not  an  article,  not  an 
utterance  which  does  not  sooner  or  later  enter  upon  a  mi- 
nute analysis  of  pitch,  force  or  quality.  Even  the  very 
latest  writers,  have  found  it  necessary  to  recognize  one  or 
more  of  these  elements  and  discourse  lengthily  thereon. 
And  this,  despite  the  fact  that  nearly  every  reference  to 
these  five  elements,  as  such,  does  more  harm  than  good.  ■ 
That  elocutionists  and  writers  upon  elocution  have  so 
long  based  instruction  upon  these  elements  is  another 
proof  of  the  great  difficulty  man  has  in  getting  out  of  a 
deep  worn  rut. 

Now,  if  these  five  elements,  considered  separately,  are 
not  vocal  symbols,  what  then  are  the  vocal  symbols?  The 
symbols  can  be  embraced  under  four  sub-heads — Articula- 
tion, Prominence,  Pause,  and  Tone.  In  the  main,  the 
first  three  symbolize  thought,  the  last  symbolizes  feeling. 
Let  us  here  consider  the  tone  symbols,  symbols  made  by 
tone. 

A  speaker  says,  "The  soldier  smote  the  man."  What 
do  I  get  from  his  manner  of  delivery  of  these  words?  I  get 
the  idea  that  a  certain  soldier  smote  a  man,  and  further 
that  the  speaker  is  somewhat  indifferent  to  the  fact. 
Again  the  speaker  utters  the  words,  "The  soldier  smote  the 
man."  From  his  manner  of  delivery  this  time  I  get  the 
information,  as  before,  that  a  certain  soldier  smote  a  man, 


24  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

and  further  that  the  speaker  is  indignant  at  the  fact. 
Again  the  speaker  says,  "The  soldier  smote  the  man." 
Again  do  I  get  the  information  that  the  soldier  smote  the 
man,  but  the  manner  of  deUvery  this  time  tells  me  that 
the  speaker  has  pity  for  the  man  that  was  struck.  Here, 
then,  are  the  same  words  uttered  three  consecutive  times, 
each  time  conveying  to  me  the  fact  that  a  certain  man  was 
smitten,  but  each  time  informing  me  of  something  further, 
and  that  something  varying  with  each  utterance.  What 
was  it  in  the  speaker's  delivery  that  gave  me  these  different 
impressions?  It  was  variations  in  a  symbol  of  voice 
which  I  shall  name  tone.  Apart  from  the  words  there 
came  a  distinguishable  symbol  which  told  me  of  a  state  or 
feeling.  In  the  first  case  the  tone  of  the  speaker  told  me 
of  a  state  of  feeling  of  indifference;  in  the  second  case  the 
tone  of  the  speaker  told  me  of  a  feeling  of  anger,  and  in  the 
third  instance  the  tone  of  the  speaker  told  me  of  a  feehng 
of  pity. 

I  have  taken  a  simple  illustration,  but  the  observations 
here  made  hold  good  in  all  utterance.  A  listener  finds  in 
all  speech  symbols  which  we  have  called  "tone,"  which 
clearly  and  unmistakably  symbolize  to  him  certain  states 
of  feeling.  Whether  the  hstener  hears  a  man  calling  out  a 
dry  column  of  figures,  or  asking  at  the  dinner  table  that 
the  bread  be  passed,  or  again  hears  him  calling  some  one 
a  fool,  in  every  instance  there  is  to  be  found  tone,  telling 
the  listener  the  feehng  or  state  of  the  speaker,  and  which 
may  be  designated  as  indignant,  indifferent  and  the  like. 
And  note  that  this  tone  is  comprehended  by  the  listener 
irrespective  of  the  words.  I  may  stand  outside  a  room  in 
which  several  people  are  talking.  I  speak  of  them  with 
the  utmost  positiveness.  Now,  I  say,  one  is  laughing, 
now  another  is  sobbing,  now  a  third  is  pleading,  a  fourth  is 


THE   VOCAL  SYMBOLS.  25 

angry,  a  fifth  is  indifierent.  How  do  I  know  this?  Is  it 
by  the  words?  No.  They  are  not  distinguishable.  I 
know  this  by  the  "tone."  And  what  is  it  I  know?  States 
of  feeUng,  tlieir  kind  and  degree. 

It  seems  extraordinary  that  so  Httle  attention  has  been 
given  to  these  sjnnbols.  As  will  be  subsequently  shown, 
they  form  the  most  vital  part  of  elocution  and  elocutionary 
instruction.  And  yet  we  find  them  almost  universally 
ignored.  If  their  existence  is  admitted  it  is  usually  in 
some  casual  remark.  Had  the  tone  symbols  in  their  full 
significance  been  early  perceived,  the  history  of  elocution 
woidd  be  very  different  and  much  more  pleasing.  There 
would  have  been  no  necessity  for  a  constant  defense  of 
elocution  as  a  useful  department  of  study. 

To  analyze  these  tone  symbols  in  precise  detail  would 
be  impossible.  They  are  as  subtle  as  the  states  of  man 
himself,  and  psychology  has  frankly  confessed  its  inability 
to  definitely  set  these  down.  But  to  say  that  these 
symbols  cannot  be  set  down  in  all  their  analytical  accuracy 
is  not  to  say  that  their  use  as  practical  data  for  the  student 
of  delivery  is  destroyed.  It  fortunately  happens  that  a 
physiological  description  would  be  of  no  value  whatever 
to  the  student,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  setting  down 
of  a  suggestive  name,  accompanied  by  illustrations,  is  of 
much  value,  bringing  before  the  student  a  tone  symbol  in 
its  full  vividness,  and  enabling  him,  out  of  his  own  ex- 
perience, to  identify  it — and  easily  so.* 

And  the  reason  for  this  ease  of  identification  lies  in  the 
fact  that  these  tone  symbols  are  inseparable  from  utter- 
ance, some  of  them  being  used  and  being  heard  and  being 
understood  almost  every  hour  of  our  lives. 

♦See  Part  II  for  examples  of  Collomiial  and  Classical  Tone  Drills  taken 
from  the  author's  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections"  in  which 
work  the  complete  table  is  to  be  found. 


f 


26  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  tone  principle  is  unscientific, 
that  it  lacks  technical  precision  and  completeness;  but,  as 
already  stated,  the  principles  of  speech,  to  be  useful,  must 
be  presented  so  as  to  avoid  mechanical,  analytical  exact- 
ness. Instead  they  must  be  formulated  that  way, 
which,  inexact  as  it  may  seem,  is,  to  the  student,  the  most 
exact,  because  it  brings  them  within  his  own  tangible, 
measurable  experience. 

I  fancy  I  hear  some  disciple  of  precision  say:  "Pooh; 
call  this  fact  of  tone  a  principle?  Why,  there's  nothing 
precise,  nothing  exact;  you  measure  nothing;  you  do  not 
give  us  the  height,  the  breadth,  the  depth,  the  length  of  a 
single  sound."  And  why?  Because,  for  the  student  to 
effectively  use  the  tone  of  command  it  is  not  at  all  neces- 
sary that  he  should  know  its  physiological  and  acoustical 
formation.  We  have  the  electric  railway,  the  electric 
light,  the  telephone,  the  telegraph  and  a  myriad  other 
marvelous  devices  of  electric  power.  And  yet  this  has 
all  been  done  without  knowing  what  electricity  is!  And 
so  with  the  tones;  every  day  we  work  wonders  with  them 
and  yet  are  oblivious  of  their  component  parts.  The  tones 
of  the  soul  are  like  the  rose:  the  moment  you  attempt  to 
take  them  to  pieces,  to  reduce  them  to  their  elements, 
their  beauty,  their  animating  power  is  lost. 


i 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  PLACE  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  TONE  SYMBOLS. 

In  order  to  determine  the  place  of  the  tone  symbols 
and  their  value,  let  us  proceed  to  consider  what  constitutes 
value  in  a  symbol  of  expression,  and  having  determined 
this,  to  test  the  symbols  by  such  standard.  Among  other 
things  a  symbol  of  expression  is  valuable  just  in  the  degree 
that  it  has  universality,  frequency,  persistency,  power  of 
identification,  power  of  vitality,  power  to  arouse  interest, 
power  to  secure  belief,  power  to  arouse  enthusiasm,  and 
economy  both  in  itself  and  as  a  medium  of  practical  in- 
struction. Considered  in  the  last  sense,  as  a  medium  of 
practical  instruction,  its  worth  is  measured  by  the  degree 
in  which  it  prevents  artificiality,  secures  accuracy  and 
truth  in  interpretation,  completeness,  and  free  play  of 
the  individuality. 

That  a  vocal  symbol  is  valuable  in  proportion  to  its 
universality,  needs  no  demonstration.  The  larger  a  terri- 
tory in  which  a  symbol  is  understood  the  greater  is  the 
symbol's  power.  Given  a  symbol  that  is  understood 
everywhere  one  may  laugh  at  political  and  physical 
divisions.  With  such  a  symbol  he  overrides  race  and 
locality  and,  within  its  scope,  is  as  much  at  home  in 
China  or  Nubia  as  in  New  York. 

Frequency  of  use  also  commends  a  symbol.  A  symbol 
which  is  used  hourly  is  unquestionably  more  valuable 
than  another  used  but  once  a  year. 

27 


28  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

Persistency,  that  is,  an  intelligibility  that  is  lasting, 
lifts  a  symbol  above  one  that  is  ephemeral.  The  speaker 
will  consider  he  has  a  far  greater  possession  in  a  symbol 
which  will  be  understood  always  than  one  which  will  be 
understood  only  for  a  decade. 

Power  of  identification  is  a  mark  of  superiority  in  a 
symbol.  Just  in  the  degree  that  a  symbol  leaves  no  room 
for  doubt  as  to  its  meaning,  so  is  its  value.  To  enable  a 
listener  to  at  once  know  and  identify  a  symbol,  thereby 
securing  precision,  gives  keen  satisfaction. 

Power  of  vitality  is  unquestionably  an  element  of  value 
in  a  symbol.  To  have  the  power  of  manifesting  the  energy 
and  movement  of  life  itself,  of  producing  nature's  variety, 
places,  per  se,  one  symbol  above  another. 

Power  to  arouse  interest,  per  se,  establishes  a  relative 
superiority  of  one  symbol  over  another.  A  symbol  that 
permits  of  holding  the  attention  takes  precedence  over 
one  that  does  not.  Without  securing  attention  the 
speaker  achieves  nothing. 

The  power  to  secure  belief  is  another  source  of  strength 
in  a  symbol.  Plainly,  in  proportion  to  the  extent  that  a 
symbol  can  convince  a  listener  of  the  truthfulness  of  the 
speaker,  so  will  be  its  usefulness. 

The  power  to  arouse  enthusiasm  is  a  further  character- 
istic that  demonstrates  the  superiority  of  one  symbol  over 
another.  To  lift  the  soul  of  a  listener  to  higher  things,  to 
set  it  on  fire  for  truth,  or  even  to  focus  the  energies  to  one 
specific  end  is  a  power  that  would  be  a  deciding  factor 
between  symbols  otherwise  equal. 

Economy  both  in  effort  and  in  time  stands  easily  as  a 
desirable  requisite  of  a  symbol  of  expression.  Other  things 
being  equal,  that  symbol  most  commends  itself  which  ob- 
tains a  given  result  with  least  exertion  of  speaker  or 
listener. 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS.  29 

Practicability  is  a  very  important  requisite.  That  a 
symbol  of  expression  which  permits  of  being  used  effec- 
tively in  delivery  and  that  also  permits  of  being  used  in 
teaching  such  delivery  is  superior  to  a  symbol  lacking  this 
power  is  self  e\adent,  and  the  greater  this  power  of  practical 
appUcation  the  greater  the  worth  of  the  symbol. 

That  this  practicability  will  be  the  greater  just  in  the 
degree  that  there  are  secured  naturalness,  accuracy,  com- 
pleteness and  free  play  of  the  individuality  is  axiomatic. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  tone  symbols  meet  these  de- 
mands. First  as  to  universality.  Tone  symbols  are 
intelligible  everywhere.  I  may  go  to  Turkey,  to  Lapland, 
or  the  Fiji  islands,  and  in  each  place  I  find  anger  symbo- 
lized by  the  same  tone.  I  find  this  true  also  of  love,  hate, 
contempt.  And  by  this  means  of  tone,  alone,  I  am  able 
to  some  extent  to  understand  and  to  be  understood. 

Not  only  do  all  nations  understand  the  symbols  simi- 
larly, we  find  them  understood  in  all  stages  of  Ufe.  The 
tone  of  anger  is  intelligible  to  the  little  child,  to  the  youth, 
to  the  man  in  his  prime,  and  to  the  aged.  The  servant 
understands  it  and  so  does  the  master.  It  is  in  large  part 
understood  even  by  the  lower  animals. 

Coming  to  frequency  of  use.  We  have  seen  that  as 
tone  is  the  vocal  manifestation  of  states,  and  as  some 
state,  must,  by  nature's  law,  be  ever  a  part  of  life  itself, 
tone  symbols  are  as  frequent  as  utterance.  And  by  the 
same  reasoning  we  infer  that  the  tone  symbols  may  lay 
claim  to  persistency.  It  would  not  be  long  before  the  grunts 
and  groans  of  early  man  became  intelligible,  and  until 
man  ceases  to  associate  with  his  fellow  this  intelligibility 
will  persist.  The  only  modification  so  far  discoverable 
is  this:  that  man,  always  possessing  the  species,  has  from 
time  to  time  increased  the  variety, 


30  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

Let  us  look  next  at  the  tone  symbols  in  respect  to  their 
'power  of  identification.  Tone  symbols  individualize  feel- 
ing, identify  it.  By  them  we  not  only  distinguish  a  state, 
but  the  exact  state.  Not  only  do  we  say  "here  is  a  symbol 
of  a  state  of  feeUng,"  but  we  assert  the  symbol  tells  us  the 
state  is  joy,  or  love,  or  sorrow.  Not  only  do  they  sym- 
bolize feeling  and  the  kind  but  they  also  indicate  its 
direction.  Thus  a  tone  may  tell  the  listener  the  bodily 
state  of  a  speaker  toward  himself,  as  when  we  hear  a 
tone  of  agony  in  the  utterance  "0-0-0"  in  "Open  the  door, 
you  are  crushing  my  finger,  0-0-0,"  or  it  may  tell  the 
state  of  the  speaker  towards  others,  as  in  "The  soldier 
smote  the  man,"  the  tone  telling  us  the  speaker  is  angry 
at  the  soldier;  or,  again,  has  pity  for  the  man  that  is 
smitten.  Yet  again,  the  speaker's  tone  may  indicate  the 
speaker's  state  of  feeling  towards  thought  itself,  as  in 
"Twice  two  are  five,"  "The  world  is  flat."  Here  the  tone 
tells  us  that  the  speaker  looks  upon  those  statements 
as  absurd.  Taking  these  instances  together  we  perceive 
a  mighty  power  lying  in  tone  symbols. 

But  we  are  not  through  yet.  That  tones  vitalize 
speech,  that  they  give  it  life,  fire,  animation,  movement 
is  at  once  apparent.  They  are  one  of  the  great  sources  of 
variety.  Now  we  get  a  tone  of  joy,  now  of  anger,  now  of 
assertion,  now  of  praise,  now  of  blame,  now  of  command. 
Now  it  is  pleading,  now  raillery,  and  thus,  when  rightly 
used,  with  their  almost  infinite  transitions  tones  give  the 
listener  those  changes  in  utterance  so  much  desired, 
thereby  preventing  monotony. 

That  tone  symbols  arouse  interest  is  plain  from  their 
very  nature.  They  permit  of  intensity,  enabling  a 
speaker  to  lift  his  feelings  into  the  realm  of  the  unusual. 
In  the  line  "One  night,  I  do  remember  well"  (from  "The 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS.  31 

Uncle"),  the  speaker,  by  using  a  tone  of  intense  awe, 
arouses  in  the  Ustener  a  keener  interest  in  what  follows. 
Also  a  tone  of  intense  defiance  in  the  line  "There  is  no 
power  to  push  me  from  the  throne"  (Robert  of  Sicily), 
heightens  the  listener's  curiosity  in  the  outcome. 

Tone  symbols  fulfill  the  demand  of  sincerity;  they  pro- 
claim the  false  and  the  true.  Thought  must,  in  large 
part,  depend  on  the  tone  symbol  to  get  the  listener's  ap- 
proval. He  will  not  accept  thought  alone;  he  demands 
that  the  tones  shall  pronounce  the  thought's  genuineness. 
The  pupil  says  he  studied  his  lessons.  The  master  feels 
sure  he  did  not.  Why?  Because  of  the  boy's  tones. 
They  lack  sincerity.  The  truth  seeker  is  never  content 
with  assertion  in  words  (thought  alone);  he  demands,  as 
we  have  said,  that  it  be  supported  and  proven  by  tone. 
The  state  of  feeling  of  the  speaker  must  be  in  harmony  with 
the  thought — and  this  is  proclaimed  by  the  tone  symbols. 

Not  only  do  tone  symbols  tell  the  states  of  the  speaker, 
but  they  are  a  great  power  in  kindling  enthusiasm.  They 
are  the  soul  sparks  that  set  other  souls  afire.  Quite  often 
tone  symbols  arouse  in  the  listener  the  states  they  them- 
selves stand  for.  The  tone  symbol  of  anger  arouses  anger; 
joy,  joy;  agony,  agony;  and  thus  we  see  that  there  lurks 
in  the  tone  symbols  an  immense  power  of  suasion.  Their 
judicious  use  is  the  marked  characteristic  of  all  great 
readers  and  speakers. 

The  tone  symbols  are  also  a  source  of  beauty.  They 
permit  of  that  sweetness  and  music  that  give  to  speech  its 
greatest  charm. 

And  when  looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  econ- 
omy, we  find  them  meeting  this  test  admirably.  Tone 
symbols  attain  an  economy  of  time — they  convey  im- 
pressions more  quickly  than  words.  Let  the  listener  ana- 
lyze his  impressions  in  their  order  as  received  from  the 


32  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

speaker  and  he  will  find  how  rapidly  he  identifies  the  tone 
and  is  positive  of  the  state  of  feeling.  In  fact  this  identifi- 
cation with  the  more  intense  states,  such  as  anger,  is 
almost  instantaneous.  In  contrast,  let  it  be  noted  how 
slow,  compar'atively,  we  are  in  grasping  the  significance  of 
the  words.  This  swift  intelligibility  of  tone  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  independent  of  words,  that  whether  the 
words  are  strange  or  familiar,  obsolete  or  in  common  use, 
the  tone  is  the  same  if  the  state  is  the  same,  and  there- 
fore it  is  at  once  identified.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  if  an 
impression  could  be  conveyed  completely  by  either  words 
or  tone  symbols,  economy  of  time  would  be  secured  by 
choosing  the  medium  of  tone  symbols. 

Also,  tone  symbols  secure,  and  for  the  same  reason, 
economy  of  effort.  They  save  labor.  In  the  utterance 
"The  soldier  smote  the  man"  we  find  the  tone  of  indigna- 
tion in  which  it  is  delivered  telling  the  listener,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  that  not  only  did  the  soldier  smite  the  man 
but  that  the  speaker  is  indignant  at  the  soldier  for  so  doing. 
The  tone  has  saved  the  effort  it  would  take  for  the  speaker 
to  tell  his  feeling  in  words,  that  is  to  say,  "The  soldier 
smote  the  man,"  delivered  with  a  tone  of  indignation,  is 
equivalent  to  "The  soldier  smote  the  m.an  and  I  feel  angry 
at  the  soldier  for  so  doing."  If  effort  is  saved  to  the 
listener  it  is  also  saved  to  the  speaker.  And  if  labor  has 
been  saved,  so  has  time. 

But  not  only  do  the  tone  symbols  achieve  economy 
in  these  respects;  they  achieve  economy  when  considered 
from  the  point  of  view  of  pedagogics,  and  also  when 
considered  as  a  means  by  which  the  student  is  enabled  to 
interpret  literature.  They  sweep  away  all  that  consider- 
ation of  pitch,  force,  time  and  quality  which  has  hitherto 
filled  hundreds  of  pages  of  standard  text  books.    Tone 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS.  33 

symbols  say  to  the  student  of  the  old  school:  "Why 
worry  over  'waves,'  why  worry  over  'stress,'  why  try 
the  impossible  in  'quaUty,'  why  struggle  so  desperately 
with  'pentads,'  why  waste  time  with  the  intangible  in 
'quantity,'  why  so  vainly,  wearily  pursue  the  endless 
task  of  trying  to  combine  all  these  things  with  a  mechanical 
exactness?  Leave  them  alone,  absolutely  alone;  forget 
that  they  exist;  throw  the  analytical  table  to  the  winds, 
and  in  the  place  of  all  this  woe  and  worry  try  simply  to 
realize  and  reproduce  us  just  as  you  give  utterance  to  us,, 
just  as  you  hear  us,  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  then  you 
will  have  produced  a  synthetic  whole,  that  everybody 
understands.  In  it  will  be  found  that  "time,"  that  "force" 
that  "quantity,"  that  "quahty,"  that  "inflection"  which 
analytically  you  sought  so  long  and  so  vainly  to  attain." 

For  example,  anger  is  to  be  portrayed.  The  student 
following  conscientiously  the  dictum  of  the  element 
system,  will  spend  his  time  mastering  the  vocal  character- 
istics that,  it  is  asserted,  anger  exhibits.  He  will  work 
hard  on  the  "aspirated  pectoral  and  guttural  quality" 
until  he  thinks  he  has  mastered  that;  he  will  then  slave 
with  the  "impassioned  force"  and  with  "radical  and 
compound  stress"  and  strive  dihgently  with  the  "octave" 
and  "wave  of  the  fifth."  Then  when  all  these  things 
have  been  mastered,  he  will  spend  still  further  time  in 
the  effort  to  so  combine  all  these  elements  as  to  produce 
the  tone  of  anger.  Many  an  hour  did  I  try  this  thankless 
task  when,  in  my  youthful  enthusiasm,  I  followed  un- 
flinchingly the  instructions  of  my  Rush  text  book. 

As  an  example  of  the  complexity  of  the  element 
method  I  quote  from  a  textbook  the  following  instructions: 

"The  following  stanza  requires  Effusive  Form,  Orotund 
Quality,  Moderate  Force,  Median  Stress,  Low  Pitch,  and 
Slow  Movement. 


34  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

Break,  Break,  Break, 

On  thy  cold  gray  stones,  O  sea! 
And  I  would  that  my  tongue  could  utter 

The  thoughts  that  arise  in  me. 

"Now,  if  the  same  degree  of  each  of  the  elements  in 
the  above  combination  be  given,  the  delivery  will  be 
correct,  but  unpleasantly  monotonous.  To  group  it,  give 
the  first  word  "break"  with  Effusive  Form,  Orotund, 
the  second  degree  of  Moderate  Force,  a  moderately 
prolonged  Median  Stress,  about  the  second  note  of 
Low  Pitch,  and  Slow  Movement.  Give  the  second  word 
"break"  with  Effusive  Form,  Orotund  Quality,  the  third 
or  even  a  fourth  degree  of  Moderate  Force,  Median  Stress, 
but  more  prolonged  than  on  the  first  word;  Low  Pitch, 
but  not  so  low  as  on  the  first  word,  and  Slow  Movement, 
but  a  little  faster  than  the  first.  Give  the  third  word 
"break"  with  Effusive  Form,  Orotund  Quality,  Moderate 
Force,  but  the  first  and  mildest  degree  of  Moderate  Force, 
Median  Stress;  but  less  prolonged  than  the  first;  Low 
Pitch,  the  lowest  of  the  low  division,  and  the  slowest  of 
the  Slow  Movement." 
And  again; 

"The  following  requires  Effusive  and  Expulsive  Forms, 
Pure  Tone,  Subdued  and  Moderate  Force,  Median  and 
Thorough  Stress,  Low  Pitch,  and  Slow  Movement. 

The  departed!  the  departed! 

They  visit  us  in  dreams. 
And  they  glide  above  our  memories 

Like  shadows  over  streams. 

"Give  the  first  "The  departed"  with  Expulsive  Form, 
first  degree  of  Moderate  Force,  Thorough  Stress,  Low 
Pitch,  and  Slow  Movement;  the  second  "the  departed," 


THE  TONE   SYMBOLS.  35 

with  Effusive  Form,  Pure  Tone,  Subdued  Force,  Median 
Stress,  Low  Pitch,  and  Very  Slow  Movement;  "They 
visit  us  in  dreams,"  with  more  force  than  the  last,  higher 
pitch,  and  less  Slow  IMovement,  Expulsive  Form,  Pure 
Tone;  "And  they  glide  above  our  memories,"  with  Effusive 
Form,  Pure  Tone,  Moderate  Force,  Low  Pitch,  and 
Moderate  Movement;  "Like  shadows  over  streams,"  with 
less  force,  slower  movement,  and  lower  pitch." 

In  the  place  of  this  the  tone  symbols  ask  that  the 
student  spend  only  such  time  as  is  necessary  for  him  to 
know  and  produce  them.  As  most  of  the  tones  are  used  by 
him  in  colloquial  utterance  hourly,  he  has  but  to  have  his 
attention  called  to  them  specifically  to  discover  his  ability 
to  naturally  reproduce  them.  His  concern  on  the  vocal 
side  is,  from  the  art  standpoint,  such  continued  practice 
on  these  familiar  tones  that  he  daily  uses,  as  will  enable 
him  to  utter  them  in  their  varying  degrees  of  intensity. 

The  subjective  system  in  respect  to  this  expression  of 
feeling  would  seem  to  take  an  indefinite  time  inasmuch 
as  the  specific  development  of  a  particular  emotion  seems 
not  to  be  countenanced.  The  student  for  the  expression 
of  anger,  and  for  its  development,  must  rely  solely  on  liter- 
ature in  general.  Perhaps  a  lifetime  may  not  see  the  re- 
quired development  for  highest  expressional  purposes. 

When,  now,  we  pass  from  the  work  of  vocal  develop- 
ment to  the  actual  interpretation  of  the  printed  page, 
the  tone  principle  still  achieves  a  saving  of  time  and 
effort.     Here  is  an  excerpt  from  William  Tell: 

"Place  there  the  boy,"  the  tyrant  said; 

"Fix  me  the  apple  on  his  head. 

Ha,  rebel,  now! 

There's  a  fair  mark  for  your  shaft; 

To  yonder  shining  apple  waft 

An  arrow."     And  the  tyrant  laughed. 


36  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

The  student  of  the  element  system,  if  consistent,  is  all 
eyes  for  the  stress,  the  quality,  the  wave,  the  semi-tone, 
in  these  lines.  From  word  to  word  he  passes,  trying 
desperately  to  determine  what  each  demands:  whether 
the  concrete  or  discrete,  the  wave,  the  ditone,  the  polytone, 
the  monad,  the  duad  or  the  triad,  the  guttural  or  orotund. 
What  a  Herculean  task !  No  wonder  the  student  becomes 
expressionally  dead. 

In  place  of  this  interminable  detail,  the  student  of  the 
tone  symbols  looks  for  the  states  underlying  the  language, 
and  having  determined  these,  refers  to  his  own  experience 
and  gives  out  the  tones  by  which  they  are  denoted.  And 
as  will  be  hereafter  shown,  undergoes  the  feeling  to  the 
greatest  allowable  extent. 

Thus,  to  illustrate,  after  studying  carefully  the  selection 
the  student  of  the  tone  system  looks  at  the  first  words  of 
the  poem — "Place  there  the  boy."  He  says,  "the  state  of 
feeling  here  is  one  of  authority  or  command,"  and  (as 
hereafter  shown)  he  goes  into  his  own  experience,  grasps 
the  feeling,  the  true  state,  and  denotes  it  to  the  listener 
by  a  tone  of  command.  "And  the  tyrant  laughed." 
Here  the  student  may  decide  that  the  poet  intends  con- 
demnation of  the  tyrant  to  be  the  dominating  state,  and 
he  goes  again  into  his  own  experience  and  catching  the 
emotion  delivers  the  words  in  a  tone  of  indignation.  And 
in  hke  manner  the  student  goes  through  the  selection. 
Never  for  a  moment  is  his  mind  upon  the  elements,  never 
for  a  moment  does  he  concern  himself  with  the  quality, 
the  wave,  pentad,  the  stress,  his  whole  attention  is  concen- 
trated upon  discovering  the  specific  feelings  or  states  which 
.  the  poem  demands.  Words  in  themselves  have  no  signifi- 
r  cance;  he  looks  at  them  only  in  their  usefulness  to  suggest 
the  true  feeling. 


THE  TONE  SYxMBOLS.  37 

The  difference,  then,  between  the  tone  system  and  the 
element  system  in  this  department  is  plain.  The  tone 
S5'stem  represents  simplicity,  the  element  system  com- 
plexity. And  the  time  and  effort  saved  by  this  concentra- 
tion upon  one  thing  is  almost  immeasurable. 

And  also  in  comparison  with  the  subjective  method 
the  tone  symbols  show  economy  of  effort.  In  the  forego- 
ing lines  from  William  Tell,  the  disciple  of  the  subjective 
system  tells  the  student  to  "meditate"— wait,  ponder, 
until  the  words,  standing  in  their  unfamiliar  phraseology 
develop  in  him  all  the  conditions  requisite  to  effective 
delivery!    This  may  be  soon;  it  may  be  never! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PLACE  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  TONE  SYMBOLS  (CONTINUED). 

It  seems  never  yet  to  have  been  realized  fully,  at  least 
all  systems  in  practice  ignore  it,  that  when  the  tyro  reads 
prose  and  poetry,  his  process  is  different  from  that  of 
ordinary  conversation.  In  natural  conversation  every- 
thing is  spontaneous.  There  are  real  objective  and  sub- 
jective causes,  and  in  all  likehhood  we  are  unconscious 
of  delivery.  But  when  reading  aloud  we  have  not  the 
real  cause  and  are  conscious  of  our  dehvery.  And  even  in 
extempore  speeches  it  is  the  exception  to  find  a  speaker 
free  from  this  consciousness  and  not  artificial. 

Now,  here,  exactly  here,  we  find  the  office  of  elocution 
and  of  the  elocutionary  instructor.  It  is  to  so  assist  the 
reader  or  speaker,  that  he  will  be  able  to  express  all  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  as  effectively  as  in  spontaneous  con- 
versation;  in  fact,  more  so. 

How  is  elocution  to  attain  this?  How  is  the  teacher  to 
proceed?  What  would  common  sense  tell  us?  What 
does  the  best  pedagogics  say?  What  does  psychology 
say?  We  must  proceed  from  the  simple  to  the  com- 
plex, from  the  easy  to  the  hard.  In  elocution  what  is  en- 
titled to  be  called  "simple"?  It  surely  will  be  those 
things  that  we  do,  and  do  constantly.  Those  things  that 
we  know,  those  things  with  which  we  are  familiar;  those 
things  that  are  within  our  own  conscious  experience. 

38 


THE  TONE   SYMBOLS    (Continued).  39 

These  are  the  things  which,  common  sense  would  say, 
elocutionary  systems  and  elocutionists  would  take  full 
cognizance  of,  would  use  as  its  alphabet.  Yet,  how  has 
elocution  proceeded?    On  these  lines?    Not  at  all. 

What  is  the  ground  work,  what  is  the  primary  work 
that  Rush  has  set  down?  We  have  seen  that  he  asks  the 
student  to  master  "time,"  "pitch,"  "force,"  "waves," 
"stress,"  "wave  of  the  second"  and  a  hundred  other  vocal 
phenomena,  which  the  student  never  heard  of  until  he 
set  about  the  study  of  elocution.  Possibly  he  may  have 
heard  of  pitch,  but  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  phraseology 
and  phenomena  are  as  foreign  to  the  student  as  the  lan- 
guage of  a  Central  African  tribe.  The  whole  system  haa 
the  appearance  of  difficulty,  almost  of  insurmountability. 
In  all  the  hundreds  of  utterances  that  the  student  hears 
daily,  never  once  does  he  find  his  mind,  of  its  own  accord, 
dwelling  on  pitch  as  such,  or  on  quality  or  on  stress.  And 
now,  when  he  is  told  to  observe  and  study  this  phenomenon 
he  finds  the  greatest  difficulty  not  only  in  the  effort  to 
separate  the  quantity  from  qualit}'^,  force  from  abruptness 
and  so  forth,  but  he  also  finds  it  an  interminable  task  to 
educate  the  ear  to  the  countless  varieties  of  these,  to  tell 
the  wave  of  the  fifth  from  the  wave  of  the  octave,  to  tell 
the  pentad  from  the  triad.  And  when  he  comes  to  the 
studying  of  hterature  itself,  he  is  simply  told  to  apply  these 
principles. 

The  element  system  in  respect  to  interpretation,  it  will 
thus  be  seen,  runs  counter  to  common  sense.  It  takes 
the  student  wholly  out  of  his  daily  experience  and  forces 
him  into  a  realm  of  which  he  knows,  as  we  have  said, 
absolutely  nothing.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  then, 
that  such  a  proceeding  has  brought  about  artificial 
results? 


40  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

To  show  to  what  extent  this  artificial  system  has  been 
carried  it  may  be  stated  that  in  four  representative  text 
books  the  pages  devoted  to  quaUty,  force,  pitch  and  their 
variations  total  84,  185,  235,  250! 

Considering  now  the  subjective  method,  what  do  we 
find?  Is  the  principle  of  reaching  the  complex  through  the 
simple  more  happily  observed  here?  Is  nature's  method, 
the  known  to  the  unknown,  easy  to  the  hard,  followed  in 
this  system?  No.  While  its  advocates  in  large  part 
denounce  and  ridicule  the  analytic  study  of  time,  pitch, 
set  forth  by  Rush,  we  find  them  asking  the  student  to 
work  out  exercises  on  inflection.  In  these  cases,  what 
has  been  said  about  the  element  system  applies  with  equal 
force  to  the  subjective  system.  The  student  is  taken  out 
of  the  realm  of  the  known.  He  is  asked  to  do  the  very 
thing  the  element  system  has  asked  him  to  do,  that  is, 
to  study  an  element  called  inflection,  to  study  something 
strange  and  foreign  to  the  student.  This  departure  from 
their  own  central  subjective  principle  leads  us  to  say  with 
Herbert  Spencer,  it  is  "needful  to  insist  strongly  upon  the 
distinction  between  the  fundamental  principle  of  a  system 
and  the  set  of  expedients  devised  for  its  practice." 

The  central  principle  of  the  subjective  method  is  the 
concentration  of  the  reader's  mind  upon  what  he  is  to  read; 
it  is  insisted  that  if  the  student  will  reflect  long  enough, 
he  will  get  from  a  line  all  the  ideas  in  it  and  they  will  be 
naturally  expressed,  that  is,  expressed  in  the  same  way 
that  spontaneous  speech  is  uttered.  That  there  may  be 
instances  where  this  will  be  so  it  is  admitted,  but  that  it  is 
at  all  usual  must  be  denied. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  a  work  based  on  the  subjective 
principle  there  are  set  before  the  student  these  lines  from 
Tennyson; 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS    (Continued).  41 

Ah!  blessed  vision!  blood  of  God !  my  spirit  beats  her 
mortal  bars 

As  down  dark  tides  the  glory  slides,  and  star-like  ming- 
les with  the  stars. 

Tried  by  our  canon  of  proceeding  from  the  known  to  the 
unknown,  from  the  familiar  to  the  strange,  surely  here  is 
placed  before  the  student  something  almost  insurmount- 
able at  the  outset.  Does  the  student  talk  like  this?  No! 
never  in  his  whole  experience  has  he  spontaneously  spoken 
such  words.  Following  his  instructions,  the  student  looks 
at  it,  again  and  yet  again  and  then  tries  to  give  it  voice. 
What  a  miserable  failure  he  makes  of  it!  Why?  Because 
he  is  asked  to  spontaneously  give  expression  to  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  another,  couched  in  words,  style  and  ar- 
rangement   absolutely    foreign    to    his   own    experience. 

It  will  surely  appeal  to  everyone  that  if  a  student  could 
effectively  grasp  all  that  Tennyson  has  here  set  down,  if  a 
student  could  grasp  and  tell  this  at  the  outset,  elocution, 
on  its  interpretative  side,  has  no  place  whatever  in  a  sys- 
tem of  instruction.  It  would  be  supererogatory.  What 
the  advocates  of  the  subjective  system  seem  here  to  fail 
in  is  this:  they  do  not  realize  that  with  the  average  person 
who  for  the  first  time  tries  to  read  such  language  as  this  of 
Tennyson's,  the  words  and  their  arrangement,  the  strange- 
ness of  it  all,  the  marked  difference  between  the  Tennyson 
phraseology  and  that  in  daily  use,  all  erect  a  barrier, 
which,  unassisted,  it  may  be  impossible  to  surmount. 

A  student  looks  at  Tennyson's  lines  and  says  to  him- 
self, consciously  or  unconsciously,  "I  never  said  'blessed 
vision.'  I  never  said  'Blood  of  God',  I  never  said  'My  spirit 
beats  her  mortal  bars',  and  I  never  heard  anyone  else 
speak  them,  or  if  I  did,  I  never  heard  it  often  enough  to 


42  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

get  any  idea  of  how  they  were  said"  (which  may  be  a  good 
thing);  "these  sensations  and  this  phraseology  are  all 
outside  of  my  experience!"  Hence  he  flounders  through 
it  in  such  a  manner  as  would  make  Tennyson  weep. 
Now  the  subjective  system  tells  him  what?  To  concen- 
trate his  mind  on  the  thought.  But  the  very  phraseology 
frevents  him,  as  we  have  seen.  What  then  must  be  done? 
The  student  has  told  us  that  it  all  seems  outside  of  his 
experience.  Then,  if  that  is  so,  before  we  can  get  true 
naturalness  we  must  show  him  that  this  phraseology  and 
these  sensations  are  not  so  foreign  as  they  seem.  How 
can  this  be  done?  Very  simply.  And  therein  is  to  be 
found  the  core  of  the  true  method  of  instruction.  We 
can  get  the  student  to  tell  these  thoughts  and  feelings  well 
only  by  likening  them  to  something  in  his  own  experience. 
They  must  be  likened  to  something  that  the  student  has 
himself  said,  or  done,  or  felt,  or  heard,  or  seen.  The 
complex  must  be  reduced  to  the  simple,  the  unknown  must 
be  translated  into  the  known;  the  unfamiliar  must  be 
shown  to  be  based  on  the  familiar.  And  it  is  right  here 
that  the  tone  symbols  demonstrate  their  pedagogical 
practicabihty. 

In  previous  paragraphs  it  was  demonstrated  that  utter- 
ance cannot  separate  itself  from  tone,  and  it  was  further 
shown  that  these  various  tones  remain  the  same  irrespec- 
tive of  the  phraseology.  In  the  most  involved  utterance 
and  in  the  simplest  utterance  the  tone  of  anger  is  the  same. 
Why  is  this?  Because  tones,  as  we  have  shown,  have 
nothing  to  do  with  words,  but  with  states.  Thus  "you 
unmitigated  scoundrel,"  and  "you  wretch"  if  both  born 
of  the  same  feeling  will  have  the  same  tone.  Again, 
"this  is  superbly  magnificent"  and  "that  is  grand"  if 
both  in  admiration  will  have  the  same  tone  symbol. 
These  cases  could  be  multiphed  indefinitely. 


THE  TONE  Symbols  (Continued).  43 

Grasping  this  principle  of  the  sameness  of  the  vocal 
manifestation  of  a  given  state,  irrespective  of  the  variation 
in  the  phraseology,  a  flood  of  hght  comes  in  upon  the 
student.  He  sees  that  the  most  exalted,  abstruse  or 
complex  phraseology  is  nothing  but  a  cloak  under  which 
lies  a  feeling  that  he  himself  is  familiar  with  in  his  everyday 
life.  He  learns  that  all  complexity  is  nothing  but  the 
simple  elaborated  or  combined,  and  that  the  highest 
states  are  but  simples  intensified.  And  thenceforth  the 
student  is  in  possession  of  a  really  practical  working  prin- 
ciple. He  no  longer  sits  down  and  spends  fruitless  hours 
in  "meditating"  upon  lines  as  they  stand  in  all  their 
intricate  unfamiliarity,  waiting  for  a  responsiveness  that 
never  comes,  but,  catching  the  intent  of  the  poet  as  to 
the  thought  and  the  feeling,  he  gives  it  effective  expression 
by  searching  into  his  own  experience,  and  there  finding  an 
equivalent  feeling  couched  in  a  familiar  phraseology  that 
at  once  arouses  the  desired  state. 

It  may  be  argued  that  it  is  debasing  literature  to  associ- 
ate with  it  the  common  experience  of  ordinary  mortals, 
but,  however  that  may  be,  hard  logic  insists  that  if  mortals 
are  to  interpret  the  immortals,  they  can  do  so  only  by 
finding  similarities,  and  then,  if  need  be,  intensifying, 
refining  or  combining  them. 

The  principles  justifying  the  position  here  taken  will 
now  be  stated. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    WORKING    PRINCIPLES    OF    EFFECTIVE    EXPRESSION. 

In  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  shown,  and  clearly, 
I  trust,  that  before  literature  and  utterance  in  general, 
can  be  properly  understood  in  their  relation  to  feeling,  the 
following  three  principles  must  be  perceived : 

(1)  Inseparable  from  all  utterance  are  tones  denoting 
the  speaker's  states. 

(2)  The  underlying  states  embodied  in  the  most  exalted 
and  most  complex  phraseology  are  nothing  but  the  states 
of  ordinary  life  intensified  or  refined;  love  is  love  whether 
expressed  in  the  language  of  a  Shakespeare  or  in  the  lan= 
guage  of  the  home. 

(3)  A  physical  sensation  and  its  mental  equivalent  have 
the  same  generic  vocal  symbol.  Agony  of  body  and  agony 
of  mind  are  portrayed  by  the  same  tone,  have  the  same  vocal 
manifestation. 

If  these  three  principles  are  sound  then  hterature 
on  its  emotional  side  is  nothing  but  the  presentation  of 
daily,  ordinary  states  in  novel  environment  or  novel 
phraseology.  And  if  the  student  can  effectively  portray 
these  ordinary  states,  the  interpretation  of  the  very  highest 
feelings  set  forth  in  literature  means  to  him  nothing  but 
a  refining  or  combining  or  intensifying  of  these  ordinary 
states.    Thus,  then,   to   effectively  give  forth  the  tone 

44 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS    (Continued).  45 

symbols,  places  the  emotional  expression  of  all  language 
within  the  power  of  the  student.  Plainly,  the  great 
desideratum  is  the  development  in  the  student  of  the  power 
to  portray  feeling,  but  not  feeling  in  that  general,  loose 
sense  in  which  it  has  heretofore  been  used.  It  is  to  portray 
feeling  in  that  specific  sense  of  particular,  individual  states. 

Really  surprising  is  the  confusion  of  ideas  exhibited  by 
writers  on  expression  in  respect  to  the  foregoing  principles. 
And  what  is  the  reason  ?  I  restate  it.  The  failure  to  dis- 
tinguish, for  the  purpose  of  delivery,  between  thought  and 
feeling.  Though  asserting  that  there  is  a  difference, 
nearly  all  writers  proceed  to  treat  the  two  as  one,  or,  at 
least,  to  constantly  confound  them.  "Think  the  thought," 
"think  the  thought"  has  been  the  command  of  the  teacher. 
Much  better,  a  thousand  times  better,  had  the  injunction 
been,  "feel  the  feeling." 

It  is  true  that  many  have  supplemented  the  injunction 
to  "think  the  thought"  with  that  of  "make  a  paraphrase," 
but  here,  too,  there  often  was  failure.  Why?  Because 
thought  and  feeling  again  had  been  confounded;  because 
the  paraphrase  had  been  a  paraphrase  that  treated  only  of 
the  dry  bones  of  language,  of  words.  Because  the  soul,  the 
feeling  embodied  in  the  phraseology  had  been  ignored. 
And  this,  in  the  face  of  the  fact,  that  it  is  the  feeling  in 
language  that  nearly  all  readers  and  public  speakers  fail 
to  express.  To  one  that  fails  to  justly  pause,  to  rightly 
emphasize,  a  thousand  will  fail  to  effectively  intone. 

To  illustrate  the  contention  made  here  in  regard  to 
paraphrasing  of  thought  and  not  of  feeling,  we  find  several 
chapters  of  a  recent  work  devoted  to  pharaphrasing,  and 
yet  the  tendency  is  the  paraphrase  of  the  thought,  even 
though  the  paraphrase  of  feeling  is  the  specific  intention 
in  certain  sections. 


46  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

"The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls 
And  snowy  summits  old  in  story: 
The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes, 
And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory." 

These  four  lines  from  Tennyson  are  paraphrased  thus: 

"The  mellow,  brilliant  light  now  glorifies  the  turrets 
and  arches  of  yon  ancient  fortress,  and  tints  the  historic 
peaks  of  the  hoary  mountains  towering  above  us.  The 
westering  sun  sends  slanting  rays,  which  shimmer  on  the 
water;  and  the  free,  glad  stream,  rejoicing  in  the  fullness 
of  its  life,  gives  itself  to  its  destined  course  with  confident 
abandon,  throwing  out  its  glorious  torrents  resplendent 
in  the  smile  of  heaven." 

Will  anyone  say  that  this  paraphrase  will  cause  oral 
responsiveness  in  respect  to  Tennyson's  lines?  Let  him 
try  it  and  he  will  find  its  inadequateness.  The  trouble 
here  is  that  the  paraphrase  is  only  of  the  thought,  not  of 
the  feeling  underlying  the  pictures. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  purpose  of  this  paraphrase  is  to 
make  the  student  see  the  thought;  that  it  does  not  pretend 
to  call  up  the  emotion.  But  if  a  paraphrase  fails  to  tangi- 
bly aid  responsiveness  it  is  of  little  expressional  use  and 
really  becomes  an  exercise  in  literary  composition. 

Also  we  have  a  paraphrase  of  Lady  Macbeth's  lines: 
"We  fail,  but  screw  your  courage  to  the  sticking  point  and 
we'll  not  fail."  The  paraphrase  reads:  "0  you  miserable 
coward!  Talk  of  our  failing!  What  ails  you?  Why  are 
your  knees  smiting  together,  you  white  livered  wretch. 
Come,  command  yourself,  man.  I  am  ashamed  of  you." 
This  more  nearly  realizes  the  effective  method  of  para- 
phrasing. But,  even  here,  the  thought  receives  more 
elaboration  than  the  feeling  if  we  consider  it  from  the  view 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS    (Continued).  47 

point  of  actual  responsiveness.  The  emotional  paraphrase 
to  secure  responsiveness  should  keep  closer  to  the  specific 
tone  the  line  demands. 

In  respect  to  paraphrasing  it  may  be  set  down  as  a  gen- 
eral principle: 

A  paraphrase  to  best  secure  oral  responsiveness  must 
not  be  a  paraphrase  of  the  thought  alone,  but  must  be  so 
constructed  that  it  presents  the  feeling  more  vividly  than 
did  the  original  'phraseology. 

In  fact  so  important  a  part  does  feeling  play  in  effective 
paraphrasing  that  the  following  two  assertions  will  stand 
the  test  of  actual  experience: 

(a)  With  few  exceptions  a  paraphrase  of  the  thought 
alone,  will  not  secure  oral  responsiveness. 

(b)  With  few  exceptions  a  paraphrase  of  the  feeling 
alone,  will  secure  oral  responsiveness. 

Returning  now  to  our  general  discussion  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  presuming  the  nature  and  place  of  each  in 
their  relation  to  utterance  has  been  fully  grasped,  the  ques- 
tion then  presents  itself,  of  how  best  to  secure  their  effective 
expression. 

As  general  principles  the  following  hold  good: 

(1)  Per  se,  a  desire  to  have  thoughts  and  feelings  seen 
and  felt  objectively  will  secure  responsiveness  in  the  speaker 
more  effectively  than  if  such  desire  is  lacking. 

(2)  Per  se,  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  this  objective 
desire  so  will  be  the  speaker's  responsiveness. 

(3)  Per  se,  the  concentration  of  this  objective  desire 
upon  some  specific  person  will  secure  responsiveness  more 
effectively  than  if  the  desire  is  not  so  concentrated. 

(4)  Where,  as  in  private  drill,  it  is  sometimes  impossible 
to  secure  a  listener,  then,  vividly  imagining  the  presence  of 
a  specific  listener  will  secure  responsiveness  more  effectively 
than  not  to  so  imagine. 


48  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

Every  observant  teacher  of  expression  very  quickly 
discovers  the  truth  of  these  principles.  And  the  reason 
for  their  truth  is  this,  that  the  carrying  out  of  what  is 
demanded  brings  the  student  most  nearly  under  the  con- 
ditions accompanying  the  spontaneous  utterance  of  every 
day  life.  He  is  led  furthest  from  the  artificial  and  nearest 
to  the  natural. 

These  four  principles  are  universally  applicable.  All 
delivery  comes  within  their  scope.  And,  once  in  a  while, 
we  find  their  application  sufficient  to  develop  the  desired 
responsiveness. 

But  in  the  great  majority  of  instances  the  application 
of  these  principles  is  not  sufficient.  As  shown  in  preceding 
chapters  the  study  or  contemplation  of  literature  as  it 
stands,  will  not  arouse  the  state  and  secure  the  desired 
responsiveness;  nor,  as  just  stated,  will  this  responsiveness 
be  secured  in  many  cases  even  when  it  calls  into  aid  the 
four  principles  just  set  down.  Therefore,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  further  assist  the  student.  And  it  is  con- 
tended that  this  assistance  must  take  the  form  of  reference 
to  the  student's  experience.     To  put  it  into  precise  form: 

A  reference  to  something  experienced  will  more  quickly 
arouse  a  state  and  secure  oral  responsiveness  than  a  refer= 
ence  to  something  never  experienced. 

This  principle  has  been  fully  discussed  already,  and 
here  it  is  only  necessary  to  set  down  clearly  the  method 
of  applying  it.  The  principle  will  have  its  greatest 
effectiveness,  if  its  application  is  made  in  accordance  with 
the  following: 

Per  se,  a  reference  to  an  experience  that  is  mentally 
vivid  will  more  quickly  arouse  a  state  and  secure  oral  re= 
sponsiveness  than  reference  to  an  experience  that  is  not 
vivid,  and  the  greater  the  vividness  the  more  effective  the 
responsiveness. 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS   (Continued).  49 

Thus,  if  a  person  had  but  once  experienced  a  prick  of 
the  finger  and  but  once  experienced  a  raging  toothache, 
a  reference  to  the  latter  experience  would  more  quickly 
arouse  the  feeling  of  pain  and  cause  an  oral  responsiveness 
than  a  reference  to  the  former.  And  the  more  intense  the 
toothache  the  greater  this  responsiveness. 

Vividness  of  an  experience  may  arise  from  the  original 
intensity,  or  from  the  frequency  of  the  experience,  or 
from  the  frequency  of  its  recollection,  or  from  recency, 
or  again,  from  the  co-operation  of  two  or  more  of  these. 

"Vividness"  means  here  great  facility  in  rc-knowing 
thoughts  and  feelings.  Careful  thinking  will  make  clear 
to  the  reader  that,  with  certain  exceptions,  interpretation 
in  the  last  analysis  is  a  process  of  re-knowing  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  psychology  tells  us  that  this  re-knowledge  is 
strengthened  and  quickened  by  all  the  means  we  have  just 
set  down.  The  principle,  then,  governing  the  degree  of 
vividness  may  be  thus  stated: 

In  the  degree  an  experience  is  (a)  originally  intense, 
(b)  recent,  (c)  frequent,  (d)  frequently  recollected,  and  (e) 
in  the  degree  that  this  original  intensity,  recency,  frequency 
of  occurrence  and  frequency  of  recollection  co=operate,  so 
will  be  the  vividness  of  an  experience,  and  therefore  its 
effectiveness  in  securing  oral  responsiveness. 

Experiences  have  not  only  the  attributes  we  have  just 
given  them,  but  we  find  they  may  be  classified  as  having 
caused  and  not  caused  oral  responsiveness,  and  as  to  the 
respective  value  of  these  it  may  be  stated : 

Other  things  being  equal,  a  reference  to  an  experience 
that  has  caused  responsiveness  will  more  effectively  secure 
responsiveness  than  a  reference  to  an  experience  that  has 
not  caused  a  responsiveness. 

Thus,  of  two  experiences  of  admiration  of  equal  in- 


50  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

tensity  the  one  causing  oral  expression,  the  other  not,  a 
reference  to  the  former  will  more  effectively  secure  re- 
sponsiveness. 

Continuing  our  consideration  of  experiences  we  find 
that  to  place  them  before  the  student  it  is  necessary  to  put 
them  into  a  phraseology,  and  the  question  arises  as  to 
whether  there  is  any  principle  governing  this  that  would  be 
of  use  to  the  student,  and  the  answer  is  in  the  affirmative. 
We  may  say: 

A  reference  to  an  experience  expressed  in  a  phraseology 
uttered  or  heard  in  connection  with  it  frequently  will 
arouse  the  feeling  bom  of  that  experience  and  cause  oral 
responsiveness  more  effectively  than  a  reference  to  the 
same  experience  in  a  phraseology  associated  with  it  rarely 
or  never. 

Thus,  the  phrase  "0  look  at  those  lovely  roses!  Look 
at  them!"  will  arouse  the  state  of  admiration  and  secure 
responsiveness  more  effectively  and  more  quickly  than 
would  the  phrase,  "At  those  roses  look,  they  are  lovely," 
or,  "note  the  loveliness  of  those  buds." 

Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  this  principle, 
rightly  applied,  we  have  the  greatest  of  all  means  by  which 
responsiveness  can  be  attained.  Certainly  my  personal 
experience  overwhelmingly  attests  this.  The  secret  of 
its  immense  power  in  securing  responsiveness  is  simple. 
From  constantly  uttering  a  certain  phraseology  in  con- 
nection with  a  certain  feeling,  a  person  in  time  so  deeply 
associates  one  with  the  other  that  the  power  of  reflex 
action  is  shown  in  its  most  effective  form.  The  phrase- 
ology at  once  recalls  the  experience.  Thus,  then,  the 
very  best  way  of  attaining  the  utmost  effectiveness  from 
an  experience  is  to  place  it  before  the  student  in  a  phrase- 
ology most  frequently  associated  with  it. 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS  (Continued).  53 

US  suppose  an  insult  similar  to  our  first  illustration  again 
occurs.  As  before  the  man's  passion  arises,  but  this  time 
on  the  very  fall  of  his  hand  he  checks  himself.  Surely  no 
one  will  assert,  that  because  here  the  man  does  not  strike 
the  woman  he  is  under  no  genuine  feeling,  is  not  in  earnest. 
By  our  very  supposition  he  is  under  all  the  emotion  of  the 
first  case  cited.  The  difference  is  that  this  emotion,  feel- 
ing, has  been  controlled,  mastered. 

Thus,  then,  if  the  student  will  consider  the  judgment 
as  not  swallowed  up  in  the  emotion  but  in  control  of  it, 
it  may  be  positively  asserted  that,  other  things  being 
equal,  to  be  most  effective  with  an  audience,  the  speaker 
or  reader  or  impersonator  must  be  under  the  genuine 
feeling  of  real  life  as  in  our  second  illustration.  And  the 
nearer  the  student  attains  to  this  the  greater  will  be  the 
effect.  The  aim  of  the  student  must  be  genuine  feeling 
with  the  judgment  in  control. 

This,  also,  is  the  dictum  of  Shakespeare.  In  the  advice 
to  the  players  he  has  Hamlet  say:  "In  the  very  torrent, 
tempest,  and,  as  I  may  say,  whirlwind  of  your  passion,  you 
must  acquire  and  beget  a  temperance  that  will  give  it 
smoothness,"  which  unmistakably  means  that  you  must  be 
under  genuine  emotion  with  the  judgment  in  control.  The 
necessity  for  this  Shakespeare  partly  tells  us:  "to  give  it 
(the  voicing  of  the  passion),  smoothness." 

But  this  feeling  is  not  desired  for  itself.  Emotion  is 
insisted  upon  because  it  is  the  most  effective  way  of  secur- 
ing expressional  responsiveness,  because  it  is  the  best 
means  by  which  a  reader  or  speaker  can  give  forth  that 
magnetic  earnestness  that  goes  straight  to  the  soul  of  the 
listener. 

And  to  arouse  this  emotion,  to  render  the  organism 
responsive,  it  is  contended  that  the  tone  symbols  present 


64  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

the  most  powerful  and  economic  means.  Utilizing  all  the 
principles  we  have  set  down,  examples  are  prepared 
illustrating  the  specific  feelings.  Everything  has  specific 
reference  to  arousing  the  jjarticular  state  and  not  a  hazy, 
indefinite  something,  called  "feeling  in  general."  Arising 
out  of  his  own  experience  he  is  in  the  realm  of  the  known, 
the  famihar.  He  can  make  positive  comparisons.  He 
becomes  his  own  monitor  and  tutor  in  the  highest  degree 
and  reahzes  that  greatest  of  all  educational  laws — self 
development.  To  offer  a  concrete  example:  Let  us  sup- 
pose we  desire  to  secure  the  effective  expression  of  ad- 
miration. There  is  set  before  the  student  the  words: — 
"0,  look  at  those  lovely  roses!  Look  at  them!" 
Here  the  student  finds  his  imagination  worked  upon.  It 
is  not  so  very  hard  for  him,  to  some  extent  at  least,  to 
realize  this  experience.  Next,  the  phraseology  in  which 
the  experience  is  couched  appeals  to  him  at  once.  It  is 
both  concrete  and  frequently  used.  With  some  slight 
change  he  has  uttered  these  words  over  and  over  again. 
And  how  many  times  the  student  has  heard  others  utter  it. 
So  that  by  his  own  sensations  and  by  the  remembered 
utterance  of  others  he  is  very  familiar  with  the  phraseology 
in  connection  with  the  specific  experience  given.  Also 
it  will  be  noticed  how  the  example  lends  itself  to  our  earher 
principles  of  having  a  specific  desire  and  a  specific  person. 
The  example  is  so  framed  as  to  imply  the  presence  of  a 
listener.  Now,  all  these  things  acting  simultaneously, 
and  in  connection  vnth  the  other  princifles  set  forth,  result 
in  the  student  taking  on  the  state  in  greater  or  less  degree, 
and,  what,  at  present,  is  very  important,  becoming  responsive 
and  reading  the  line  with  the  tone  that  the  listener  associates 
with  admiration. 

Let  us  take   a  further  illustration.     We  desire  the 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS    (Continued).  55 

student  to  give  out  the  tone  of  command.     We  set  down 
this: 

"Go  right  home  this  instant;  do  you  hear  me?  Go 
right  home." 

Who  has  not  had  this  experience?  And  what  student 
has  not  more  or  less  frequently  phrased  the  experience  in 
language  much  like  that  set  down,  and  also,  who  has  not 
often  heard  others  use  this  phraseology  in  connection  with 
this  experience.  So  true  is  this  that  after  long  use  of  the 
foregoing  illustration  I  have  yet  to  come  upon  a  case  where 
the  student  did  not  give  out  the  symbol  of  command  at 
least  in  a  degree  sufficiently  %'ivid  to  be  identified.  Simi- 
larly with  the  feeling  of  amazement  in"Gone  to  be  married! 
j\Iarried!  Well,  did  you  ever;"  with  annoyance  in"  I  told 
you  once.  How  many  times  do  you  want  me  to  tell  you," 
and  so  on  through  the  whole  gamut  of  feeling.  Thus  at  the 
very  outset  the  student  realizes  a  fair  degree  of  responsive- 
ness, and  by  practicing  regularly  on  representative  ex- 
amples of  the  tones,  drawn  from  experience,  the  student 
steadily  increases  his  effectiveness  until,  at  last,  he  is  able 
to  express  truthfully  emotions  the  most  complex  and  in- 
tense. 

Also,  what  ever  power  there  is  in  reflex  action  is  secured 
to  its  fullest  extent  by  the  method  we  have  here  set  down. 
James,  in  his  Psychology,  lays  great  stress  on  reflex  action. 
"Any  voluntary  and  cold  blooded  arousal  of  the  so  called 
manifestations  of  a  special  emotion  should  give  us  the 
emotion  itself  *  *  *  Each  fit  of  sobbing  makes  the 
sorrow  more  acute  *  *  *  In  rage,  it  is  notorious 
how  we  work  ourselves  up  by  repeated  outbreaks  of  ex- 
pression *  *  *  Sit  all  day  in  a  moping  posture,  sigh, 
and  reply  to  everything  with  a  dismal  voice  and  your 
melancholy  lingers    *    *    *     Smooth  the  brow,  brighten 


58  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

the  eye,  contract  the  dorsal  rather  than  the  ventral  aspect 
of  the  frame,  and  speak  in  a  major  key,  pass  the  genial 
comphment  and  your  heart  must  be  frigid  indeed  if  it 
does  not  gradually  thaw."  And,  says  Charles  Darwin 
in  his  "Expression  of  the  Emotions,"  "Even  the  simula- 
tion of  an  emotion  tends  to  arouse  it  in  our  minds."  And, 
says  Lessing:  "Even  the  simulator  will  attain  a  sort 
of  feeling  since  the  emotions  that  produce  bodily  changes 
are  also  produced  by  them."  And  if  any  one  will  try  the 
experiment  of  a  forced  laugh,  he  will  find  that  persistency 
will  develop  the  real  state  and  cause  it  in  others. 

Returning  for  a  moment  to  the  view  herein  expressed 
in  respect  to  the  feeling  that  should  dominate  the  reader 
and  actor.  If  there  be  any  who  dissent  from  this  view  and 
contend  that  a  reader  or  speaker  should  be  under  no 
emotion  whatever,  that  the  feehngs  have,  distinct  and 
apart  from  themselves,  certain  chords  which,  if  struck 
mechanically  by  the  breath,  will  be  as  powerful  and  true 
as  when  operated  upon  by  the  emotions  themselves,  that 
the  voice,  in  other  words,  is  a  piano  with  its  notes,  and  all 
that  is  requisite  is  to  strike  the  keys,  then,  even  in  that  case 
it  will  still  be  found  that  the  tone  symbols  achieve  this 
mechanical  result  more  quickly  than  any  other  S3^stem  yet 
devised.  If  the  will  has  simply  to  operate  coldly  upon  the 
chords,  the  tone  symbols,  illustrated  as  they  are  by 
colloquial  phraseology  drawn  from  experience,  will  most 
quickly  enable  Mr.  Mechanic  to  attain  his  mechanical  end. 

Now  in  respect  to  means  for  the  development  of  re- 
sponsiveness, where  do  we  find  the  element  system? 
Does  it  develop  responsiveness  by  bringing  the  student 
into  his  daily  experience?  Does  it  put  his  frequent 
experience  into  frequent  phraseology.^  The  answer  must 
be,  no.     We  have  seen  that  it  ignores  man's  daily  experi- 


THE  TONE  SYMBOLS  (Continued).  57 

ence  and  deals  solely  with  phenomena,  such  as  quality, 
pitch,  force,  abruptness,  of  which,  as  such,  the  student 
knows  nothing. 

Does  then  the  subjective  system  develop  responsiveness 
by  the  use  of  the  principle  we  have  set  down?  Again 
we  must  answer,  no.  We  have  seen  and  shall  see  yet, 
that  this  system  immediately  proceeds  to  set  before  the 
student,  not  experiences  drawn  from  daily  life,  but  drawn 
from  experience  of  remarkable  individuals.  We  have  seen 
that  it  refuses  to  consider  colloquial  phraseology  and  in  its 
place  sets  before  us  the  unfamiliar  phraseology  of  the  great 
poets  and  other  authors  who  make  it  their  concern  to 
dress  feelings  in  strange  and  novel  garb,  altogether  differ- 
ent from  that  of  daily  life. 

As  against  these  we  have  seen  that  the  tone  sjonbols 
prove  themselves  a  most  adequate  means  to  develop  what 
might  be  termed  the  soul  side  of  man,  and  at  the  same 
time,  surely  and  quickly  lead  the  student  along  the  path 
of  true  naturalness. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  THE  TONE  SYMBOLS. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  one  of  the  severest  tests  that 
can  be  made  of  a  symbol  is  its  power  to  secm'e  accuracy  and 
completeness  in  interpretation.  Accuracy  demands  that 
the  delivery  shall  be  true,  that  it  shall  be  in  accordance 
with  nature.  It  does  not  demand,  however,  that  it  be  a 
photograph  of  nature.  To  demand  this  would  be  the  death 
of  art.  It  would  sink  the  powers  of  mind  to  the  low 
level  of  imitation.  It  v/ould  make  the  voice  of  man 
but  a  phonograph,  his  actions  that  of  a  marionette,  and 
his  personality  an  affair  of  paint  and  powder. 

But  it  is  given  to  man  not  alone  to  copy  nature,  but  to 
master  nature.  Not  alone  to  imitate  but  to  create.  And 
in  elocution  this  is  no  exception.  Elocution  sees  nature, 
observes  her  intently,  and  while  retaining  the  resemblance 
necessary  for  intelligibility,  selects,  combines,  harmonizes, 
intensifies,  refines.  She  takes  the  best  that  is  in  nature, 
the  best  that  is  in  voice,  action  and  personality,  and  height- 
ens even  these  in  power  and  beauty.  This  is  art.  Art  in 
its  highest  sense  is  the  best  natural  bettered.  Thus  the 
mind  of  man  while  working  in  and  with  nature  has  yet  a 
God  given  freedom  which  enables  it  to  create  ideals  and 
gloriously  labor  for  their  attainment. 

And  the  listener  is  in  the  heartiest  accord  with  all  this. 

58 


FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  TONE   SYMBOLS.  59 

He  says  to  the  speaker,  "What  you  set  before  me  I  desire 
to  be  intelligible,  but  I  desire  you  to  use  the  intelligible  in 
the  highest,  best  and  most  powerful  form  attainable  by 
you.  I  would  have  you  show  me  what  the  mind  and  soul, 
acting  upon  nature,  can  produce.     I  would  have  Art. " 

Accuracy  in  elocution,  therefore,  from  the  art  stand- 
point, demands  intelligible  resemblance,  and  really  insists 
that  nature  be  shown  more  exquisitely  than  she  shows 
herself.  Thus  love  has  its  tone  symbol.  To  all  mankind 
it  is  intelligible.  Artistic  accuracy  says  your  tone  of  love 
shall  have  a  sweetness,  a  richness,  a  beauty,  a  swaying 
power  that  nature  herself  has  not  equaled. 

But  how  can  this  be  attained  ?  There  is  but  one  answer 
— along  natural  lines.  The  student  must  proceed  from 
the  easy  to  the  hard.  He  must  know  nature  in  the  crude 
before  he  proceeds  to  the  refined.  He  must  know  and  be 
able  to  give  forth  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the 
tone  of  love,  that  something  which  differentiates  it  from 
all  other  tones,  and  this  he  must  always  retain  in  his 
perfecting  process.  Having  then  the  distinguishing 
characteristic,  he  may  hope  with  judgment,  practice  and 
earnestness  to  increase  the  effectiveness  of  the  tone. 

The  practical  working  of  this  principle  is  illustrated 
by  Edwin  Booth  in  his  interpretation  of  Hamlet.  A 
preacher  vouches  for  the  fact  that  when  Edwin  Booth 
was  crossing  the  ocean  to  make  his  appearance  in  London, 
the  preacher  (whose  stateroom  adjoined  Booth's),  heard 
Booth  almost  incessantly  uttering  the  word  "murder" 
which  is  spoken  by  Hamlet  when  the  ghost  tells  him  of 
his  father's  murder.  What  was  Booth  doing?  He  was 
trying  to  refine,  intensify,  make  more  horror  stricken  and 
awful  his  tone.  He  was  trying  to  utter  the  word  in  a 
tone  more  effective  than  it  had  ever  been  uttered.     He  was 


60  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

trying  to  attain  the  best  natural  bettered.  And  the  preacher 
goes  on  to  tell  us  that  he  went  to  hear  Booth,  and  then,  he 
fully  realized,  by  Booth's  profound  effect  upon  him  in  the 
utterance  of  the  word  "murder,"  what  the  constant  prac- 
tice had  attained. 

The  basis,  then,  of  artistic  truth  is  the  perception  of  the 
ordinary  tone.  But  is  this  insisted  upon  by  existing  sys- 
tems? The  Rush  system  takes  the  student  as  far  from 
the  tone  as  possible.  As  we  have  seen,  it  says  nothing  of 
the  tone  of  love,  of  hate,  as  such,  but  instead  demands 
practice  upon  waves  and  stresses,  insisting  that  these,  when 
combined  will  attain  the  desired  end.  This  combining 
process  we  have  seen  is  practically  impossible. 

The  subjective  system  simply  ignores  all  consideration 
of  the  tones  individually  and  insists  upon  the  getting  of  the 
thought,  which  we  have  shown  is  very  often  barren  of 
effective  results.  Could  Booth,  for  instance,  have  attained 
his  extraordinary  artistic  effect  on  "murder"  had  he  simply 
contented  himself  with  "thinking  the  thought"  and  medi- 
tating? 

Compared  with  these  systems  we  find  the  tone  symbols, 
as  here  set  forth,  give  at  once  a  key  to  nature  which  the 
student  can  use.  Mastering  the  characteristic  tone  of  a 
state,  he  may,  as  has  been  said,  with  practice  and  judg- 
ment and  earnestness  attain  a  high  degree  of  artistic  ex- 
cellence. 

And  further,  whether  he  undertakes  to  deliver  the  most 
ordinary  phraseology,  or  that  of  the  greatest,  profoundest 
of  our  poets,  he  may  be  ever  sure  that  if  not  attaining  per- 
fection, he  is  at  least  giving  out  tones  which  clearly  tell  the 
kind  of  feeling  which  he  believes  to  exist  in  the  lines. 
Tone  symbols  are  the  standard  by  which  the  student  can 
measure  his  degree  of  accuracy  in  denoting  feeling.     And 


FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  TONE   SYMBOLS.  61 

yet  existing  systems  seem  almost  unaware  of  such  a  price- 
less standard. 

If  tone  symbols  permit  of  artistic  accuracy,  they  per- 
form an  equally  valuable  office  in  securing  thoroughness, 
completeness.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  tones  shall  resemble 
nature.  It  is  further  demanded  that  the  feelings  which  the 
tones  tell  shall  be  the  feelings  in  the  poet's  lines.  That  is 
to  say,  one  might  give  out  a  tone  of  joy,  but  the  poet  may 
intend  sarcasm  as  the  feeling,  and  thus  while  the  tone  is 
admirably  bodied  forth  the  student  has  misinterpreted  the 
poet.  Under  the  existing  systems  there  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent a  misreading  of  a  poet's  lines  except  the  precept  of 
"getting  the  thought"  or  "study  the  selection."  This  is 
too  indefinite.  In  daily  experience  with  scholars  I  have 
found  that  this  precept  of  thinking  the  thought  leads 
largely  to  the  study  of  the  thought  alone,  in  its  narrowest 
sense,  the  determination  of  the  emphasis  and  the  like. 
There  is  a  vague  consciousness  that  emotion  must  be 
expressed,  but  not  realizing  definitely  the  fact  that  every 
word  demanding  utterance  has  its  state,  the  subtleties  of 
expression  are  not  perceived.  As  proof  of  this  let  me  cite 
the  lines  "the  tyrant  laughed"  in  the  poem  entitled 
"William  Tell."  Under  the  principle  of  "thinking  the 
thought"  and  "meditation,"  students  almost  without  an 
exception,  rendered  this  line  in  a  tone  of  ordinary  expla- 
nation. But  when  the  principle  of  the  tone  symbols  was 
explained,  when  the  students  realized  that  every  word  in 
rendition  has  its  tone,  which  tone  must  cither  be  false  or 
true,  some  of  the  keener  students  at  once  stated  that  "the 
tyrant"  demanded  a  tone  of  indignation,  and  "laughed"  a 
tone  of  amazement,  and  through  the  selection  they  went 
discovering  truthful  touches  which  by  the  indefinite  in- 
struction of  "think  the  thought"  and  "meditate"  they  had 


62  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

previously  passed  over.  Realizing  that  every  intelligible 
sound  denotes  also  a  state  of  feeling  of  some  sort,  from  the 
commonest  indifference  to  the  mightiest  concern,  the  stu- 
dent is  impelled  to  make  a  word  to  word  analysis  of  the 
poem  to  determine  the  state  or  states  to  be  portrayed.  If 
he  is  conscientious,  the  tone  symbols  do  not  permit 
him  to  skip  even  a  word.  Thus  we  see  practical 
evidence  of  the  thoroughness  that  results  from  the  appli- 
cation of  the  tone  system  to  the  interpretation  of  literature. 
The  tone  symbols  as  a  working  principle  of  elocution 
are  further  to  be  commended  in  that  they  permit  the  free 
play  of  the  individuality.  A  student  from  the  beginning 
works  with  his  own  judgment,  uses  his  own  observation. 
He  is  called  upon  to  match  nothing.  While  restricted  to 
uttering  the  symbols  intelligibly  he  has,  within  those  limits, 
the  fullest  liberty,  he  must  determine  for  himself  the  rela- 
tive intensity  of  a  feeling  or  state  and  of  the  tone  necessary 
to  portray  it.  Thus  joy,  love,  anger,  admiration,  are  al- 
most infinite  in  their  varieties,  and  the  student  must  rely 
on  his  own  powers  to  determine  the  exact  shade  demanded 
by  the  selection.  If,  however,  the  student  is  told  to 
match  a  certain  given  note  set  down  on  a  scale  (as  shown 
in  pages  of  Rush  et  al),  wherein  lies  any  freedom  in 
execution?  He  must  execute  it  as  precisely  as  a  note  in 
music,  and  all  must  execute  it  alike.  Or,  if  the  student  is 
simply  to  "think  the  thought,"  as  laid  down  by  the  sub- 
jective system,  he  has  no  guide  to  truth  whatever,  no  test. 
He  must  hope  that  his  responsiveness  due  to  meditation  is 
adequate.  Or  again,  not  held  within  specific  bounds,  but 
told  to  "meditate"  he  has  license,  not  freedom,  and  license 
is  too  broad.  He  may  run  riot.  The  great  aim  in  inter- 
pretation is  unity  with  variety.  And  this,  it  is  contended, 
is  exactly  what  the  use  of  the  tone  principle  permits. 


FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  TONE  SYMBOLS.  63 

A  further  recommendation  for  the  tone  system  as  a 
working  principle  is  that  it  calls  into  play  the  student's 
highest  powers.  It  causes  the  student  to  realize  that  all 
language  has  feeling  l^ehind  it,  and  that  he  must,  there- 
fore, necessarily  set  out  upon  a  most  careful  psychological 
study  of  the  poem.  Every  moment  must  he  exercise  his 
judgment  and  his  observation  of  men  and  things.  He 
must  refer  back  the  printed  words  to  their  significance  in 
nature,  and  determine  what  the  state  of  feeling  is  that 
gave  rise  to  them.  He  must  study  human  motives,  must 
determine  their  kind,  how  complex  or  simple,  and  constant- 
ly live  in  the  realm  of  higher  psychology.  Thus,  in  the 
lines: 

"Place  there  the  boy,"  the  tyrant  said, 

"Fix  me  the  apple  on  his  head." 
the  student  must  decide  if  the  poet  intends  "Place  there 
the  boy,"  to  exhibit  the  state  of  feeling  of  the  story  teller 
or  the  state  of  feeling  of  the  tyrant,  and  if  he  decide  that 
the  feeling  of  the  tyrant  must  be  exhibited,  then  the 
student  has  yet  to  determine  what  feeling  animates  the 
tyrant.  This,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  forces  him 
into  his  own  experience  and  observation.  What  has  he 
himself  heard,  seen  or  felt  in  this  respect  ?  How  do  tyrants 
talk  under  such  conditions?  He  may  conclude  that  the 
state  of  feeling  is  one  of  calm  command  or  authority,  or 
again,  one  of  impetuous  sharp  command.  He  may  even 
think  that  contempt  is  mixed  with  the  tyrant's  feeling 
on  the  words  "the  boy."  Having  arrived  at  a  decision 
by  means  of  a  keen  exercise  of  his  judgment  and  obser- 
vation, if  the  desired  responsiveness  does  not  come,  he 
must  again  go  into  his  own  experience  searching  there  for 
an  emotional  parallel,  in  which  search  he  is  greatly  assisted 
by  his  practice  upon  the  Tone  Drills  drawn  from  daily  life. 


64  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

He  passes  to  the  next  words,  "the  tyrant  said."  Here  he 
must  determine  whether  the  poet  intends  him  to  simply 
exhibit  the  state  of  feeling  accompanying  the  ordinary 
story  telling  or  whether  the  poet  intends  that  the  reader 
shall  show  his  sympathy  for  William  Tell  and  his  indig- 
nation at  the  tyrant  by  delivering  the  words  in  a  tone  of 
indignation.  Thus  we  see  that  in  the  very  first  line  of  a 
comparatively  simple  poem,  the  carrying  out  of  the  tone 
system  results  in  the  student  exercising  his  powers  of 
analysis  and  judgment. 

Again,  in  the  lines  from  Longfellow's  "King  Robert  of 
Sicily:"  "And  the  poor  jester  was  hustled  back  among  the 
populace,"  the  student,  impelled  by  the  demands  of  the 
tone  symbols,  impelled  by  the  law  that  every  tone  will 
manifest  a  feeling,  and  that  he  must  give  the  right  feeling 
and  the  right  tone,  finds  himself  using  his  judgment  to 
determine  whether  Longfellow  intends  the  reader  to  denote 
a  feeling  of  pity  in  these  lines,  thereby  arousing  sympathy 
for  King  Robert  in  his  degradation,  or  whether  the  reader 
shall  exhibit  a  feeling  of  contempt,  and  thereby  paint  for 
the  listener,  \'ividly,  the  punishment  God  is  meting  out  to 
King  Robert  for  his  sin.  Here  also,  it  is  apparent  what 
psychological  work  the  true  and  thorough  study  of  a  piece 
of  literature  is  when  conducted  on  the  principle  that  all 
language  is  accompanied  by  certain  states  portrayed  by 
tone. 

It  will  be  said,  does  not  every  method  of  elocution- 
ary instruction  demand  the  exercise  of  these  higher  powers 
of  mind,  and  this  must  be  admitted.  But  it  is  contended 
that  the  non-recognition  or  disregard  of  the  truth  that 
every  word  in  utterance  must  manifest  a  state  has  led  to  a 
much  less  use  of  these  higher  powers  than  is  the  case  when 
the   tone  symbols  have  been   recognized.     After  their 


FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  TONE  SYMBOLS.  65 

recognition  the  student  ceases  his  haphazard  method  in 
respect  to  emotion.  The  difference  between  the  student 
who  has  realized  the  existence  and  the  scope  of  the  tone 
symbols,  and  a  student  who  has  not,  is  exactly  the  differ- 
ence between  a  gold  seeker  who,  having  been  informed 
that  gold  is  mixed  with  the  earth  throughout  his  entire 
claim,  examines  every  shovelful  with  a  specific  purpose, 
and  a  gold  seeker  who  looks  for  only  such  gold  as  is  at 
once  apparent  to  the  eye. 

It  ■^ill  incidentally  be  seen,  also,  how  the  student  is 
forced  to  make  known  his  mental  calibre.  In  a  tonal 
analysis  of  a  selection  the  student  must  set  down  the 
states,  and  he  either  sets  down  the  wrong  states  or  the 
right,  and  while  this  will  in  no  way  test  the  student's 
power  of  reproducing  the  tones,  it  does  emphatically 
declare  the  student's  mental  grasp  of  the  selection.  It 
shows  how  deeply,  how  carefully  he  has  studied,  and 
proclaims  the  student's  conceptive  power. 

Another  commendable  feature  of  the  tone  system  is  the 
intense  interest  aroused  in  the  student.  He  sees  his  task 
a  worthy  one,  and  he  enters  with  the  keenest  delight  upon 
a  study  which  means  an  examination  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  poet  and  his  creations,  and  a  constant  weighing  and 
measuring  of  the  psychological  states  of  man  in  all  his 
various  situations.  He  even  finds  himself,  by  this  system, 
discovering  the  weakness  of  a  poem,  and  having  discovered 
this,  the  student  sets  to  work  to  so  mould  his  rendition 
as  to  most  effectively  hide  the  blemish — a  worthy  task  for 
which  many  a  writer  would  be  deeply  thankful. 

The  tone  principle,  used  in  connection  with  that  of 
reference  to  experience  as  exemplified  in  the  Tone  Drills 
possesses  other  important  pedagogic  values.  Among 
other  things,  it  helps,  materially,  to  rid  the  pupil  of  that 


66  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

phase  of  self-consciousness  that  kills  spontaneit5^  The 
colloquial  drills  coming  vividly  into  the  pupil's  experience, 
and  so  phrased  that  they  imply  a  hstener,  bring  about 
almost  a  parallel  state  to  that  of  spontaneous  conversation, 
and,  therefore,  tend  to  prevent  those  subjective  reflections 
of  "how  foolish  this  is,"  "how  ridiculous  I  am,"  which  so 
frequently  accompany  the  student's  earlier  attempts  in 
the  expression  of  the  thoughts  of  another. 

Further,  the  tone  principle,  applied  through  the 
Colloquial  Drills,  causes  the  pupil  himself  to  be  alert  to 
his  short  comings.  The  drills  coming  into  his  life,  he  has 
a  standard  by  which  he  tests  his  own  expression.  If, 
for  instance,  he  utters  the  Tone  Drill  of  Amazement  "Gone 
to  be  married!  Married!  Well  did  you  ever!"  with  ex- 
pression that  is  uncertain  or  weak  he  sees  his  own  mistake, 
and  tries  again.  Almost  daily  have  I  seen  a  look  of  self- 
criticism  come  over  a  pupil's  face  as  his  own  ear  told  him 
his  rendering  was  inadequate.  Surely  this  almost  instan- 
taneous self-correction  is  a  mighty  factor  in  expressional 
education,  and  commends  the  method  that  achieves  it. 

Another  element  of  pedagogic  power  in  the  tone 
principle  working  through  the  colloquial  Tone  Drills,  is 
the  arousal  in  the  pupil  of  a  keen  pleasurable  interest. 
Becoming  objective,  concentrating  his  expression  on  some 
particular  listener  and  uttering  ideas  which  in  themselves 
and  their  phrasing  come  into  his  daily  life,  he  has  the  joy  of 
definite  imaginative  expression.  There  is  royal  fun  in 
calling  out  "Do  you  hear  me  up  there?  Are  5''ou  in  the 
tower?  George!  George!  Come  down  I  say,"  it  gives  the 
pupil  all  the  joy  of  childhood's  simulation  to  cry  out  to 
his  class-mate — "O,  Open  the  door,  you  are  crushing  my 
finger!  0-0-0."  He  gets  a  half-heroic  pleasure  in  de- 
nouncing his  imaginary  enemy  with  the  words — "You  cur, 


FURTHER  UTILITY  OF  TONE   SYMBOLS.  67 

strike  that  little  boy  again,  and  I'll  thrash  you  on  the 
spot,"  and  how  his  chest  expands  with  his  bold  cry — (De- 
fiance), "Try  it,  if  you  dare!  Try  it!"  Each  example  in 
this  series  of  drills  has  for  him  its  own  distinctive  interest 
and  thus  is  secured  that  "joy  in  the  doing"  which  is  the 
crowning  requisite  in  education. 

Further,  the  tone  principle  permits  a  course  in  ex- 
pression that  is  comprehensive.  The  teacher,  perceiving 
the  wide  range  of  tone,  is  enabled  to  choose  selections,  each 
of  which,  is  representative  of  a  distinct  phase  of  feeling, 
and  in  this  way,  he  can  cover  with  definiteness  the  field 
of  expression  in  its  entirety.  Perhaps  no  greater  sin  of 
omission  has  been  committed  by  the  compilers  of  reci- 
tations than  the  failure  to  make  their  compilations 
emotionally  comprehensive.  Even  the  supposed  standard 
works  have  this  weakness.  They  present  several  hundred 
selections  and  yet  when  we  come  to  classify  them  in 
respect  to  variety  of  feeling  we  frequently  find  the  entire 
collection  falling  within  a  half  dozen  to  a  dozen  emotions! 
Surely  this  is  all  too  narrow  a  field  in  which  to  train  the 
student. 

It  is  no  answer  to  say  that  there  are  no  selections  cover- 
ing these  phases  of  feeling,  for  the  writer  in  his  "Natural 
Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections"  found  no  difficulty 
in  compiling  under  their  dominant  tones  selections  repre- 
sentative of  over  fifty  different  feelings. 

Further  the  tone  principle  permits  a  graded  classifi- 
cation and  arrangement  of  selections  in  so  far  as  grading 
is  practical.  In  respect  to  many  of  the  tones  of  the  emo- 
tions there  is  no  such  thing  as  relative  ease  and  difficulty. 
The  emotions  of  joy  and  anger  if  both  set  forth  in  idea 
and  phrasing  that  come  with  equal  vividness  into  exper- 
ience are  equally  easy  or  equally  hard.     Similarly  with 


68  THE   TONE   SYSTEM. 

appeal  and  pity,  and  many  other  emotions.  The  kinds 
of  feeling  that  may  be  said  to  be  more  difficult  than  others 
^yill  be  those  which  are  aroused  in  us  rarely,  such  as  despair, 
horror,  hatred,  agony,  terror.  These  can  be  graded  in 
accordance  with  their  relative  difficulty  of  expression. 
But  apart  from  this  the  essential  thing  is  a  grading,  not 
of  the  kind  of  tone,  but  of  the  degrees  of  difficulty  in  the 
expression  of  a  particular  tone.  This  difficulty  may  be 
due  either  to  the  varying  degrees  of  intensity  in  the  tone, 
as  in  the  case  of  love,  or,  to  varying  degrees  of  difficulty 
in  the  literary  style,  due  to  the  unusual  in  phrase,  sentence 
structure,  or  thought,  as  in  many  passages  from  Shake- 
speare and  Milton.  In  these  cases  the  selections,  of  course, 
will  be  arranged  and  given  to  the  student  in  the  order  of 
difficulty.  The  tone  principle  therefore,  permits  of  a 
thorough  and  comprehensive  course  in  literary  interpre- 
tation, because  of  its  practical  recognition  of  the  great 
variety  of  states  of  feeling,  and  of  the  gradations  of  this 
feeling,  and  because  it  tests  selections  by  the  ease  or 
difficulty  with  which  they  can  be  resolved  into  the  emo- 
tional experience  of  the  pupil, 


CHAPTER  IX. 


A    SUMMARY. 


Summing  up  now,  I  have  sought  to  show  that  the  recog- 
nition of  the  tone  symbols  as  a  working  principle  of  elocu- 
tion is  vital;  that  without  such  recognition,  a  system  of 
instruction  must,  at  best,  be  one  sided.  I  have  sought  to 
show  that  existing  systems  practically  ignore  this  factor, 
and  yet  have  furnished  nothing  in  its  place. 

And  as  proof  of  the  immense  value  of  the  tone  symbols 
it  has  been  shown  that  they  can  be  readily  apprehended, 
that  they  are,  in  large  part,  eternal  and  imiversal,  that 
they  are  in  all  utterance,  that  they  are  a  source  of  variety 
in  speech  and  have  an  immense  influence  upon  an  audience; 
that  they  can  be  readily  grasped  by  the  student  and  as 
readily  applied;  that  they  go  a  long  way  toward  preventing 
artificiahty,  that  they  preserve  the  free  play  of  the  in- 
dividuality, secure  accuracy  and  completeness  in  rendition, 
and  that  in  them  is  to  be  found  the  soul  of  delivery. 

We  have  found,  also,  that  they  permit,  as  nothing 
heretofore  in  elocutionary  pedagogics  has  permitted,  the 
complete  and  easy  application  of  the  principle  of  proceed- 
ing from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  the  known  to  the 
unknown,  that  they  draw  aside  literature's  awful  mask  of 
strange  phraseology  and  show  the  beautiful  simplicity 
that  mask  conceals.     And  also  we  have  found  that  by 


70  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

co-operation  with  the  principle  of  appeaUng  to  experience, 
the  tone  symbols  permit  of  a  true,  and  rapid  and  thorough 
development  of  responsiveness. 

The  more  one  contemplates  the  tone  symbols  the  more 
their  power  is  seen.  Above  all,  unceasingly  thankful  is 
the  student.  He  sees  all  those  mysterious  processes  that 
have  come  down  to  him  as  a  necessary  part  and  parcel  of 
instruction,  all  that  interminable  phraseology,  all  that  hair 
fine  analysis  of  elements,  all  that  anatomical  cataloguing 
of  the  vocal  phenomena — he  sees  all  these  disappear,  and 
in  their  place  finds  the  sunshine  of  intelligibihty,  the  light 
of  his  own  experience  and  observation  flashing  upon  him. 
In  place  of  hazy  indeterminate  things  which  he  never  could 
comprehend  for  practical  use,  he  finds  something  tangible, 
natural.  He  learns  that  elocution  is  no  longer  a  thing  of 
unending  definitions,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  is  no 
haphazard  affair  which  must  be  left  solely  to  the  effect  of 
"thinking  the  thought,"  but  that  it  is  something  measure- 
able,  that  while  given  the  freedom  of  variety,  he  must 
move  within  the  realm  of  certainty. 

It  will  be  perceived,  too,  that  the  tone  system  furnishes 
a  principle  which  will  enable  the  great  pubhc  to  more 
easily  and  more  readilj^  interpret  literature,  and  which  will 
greatly  assist  in  ridding  their  minds  of  the  opinion  that 
elocution  is  an  affair  of  artificiality. 

Perhaps  the  most  powerful  and  valuable  feature  of  the 
tone  symbols  is  that  by  their  aid  a  student  always  works 
on  natural  lines,  and  though  he  may  soften  and  heighten 
nature  in  various  ways,  he  can  always  make  sure  that  he 
is  not  departing  from  the  semblance  to  nature  that  true  art 
demands. 


PART  II. 
THE    APPLICATION    OF   THE   TONE  PRINCIPLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE   TONE    DRILLS. 


The  problem  that  confronts  every  teacher  of  oral  ex- 
pression in  school  or  college  is  how  to  get  the  greatest 
results  from  a  body  of  students  ranging  from  ten  to  one 
hundred,  meeting  one  to  five  hours  a  week,  for  one  to 
two  terms.  The  solution  of  this  problem  will  depend 
primarily  on  the  goal  of  the  teacher.  Speaking  broadly, 
that  goal  will  be  the  development  in  the  student  of  natural- 
ness and  power. 

Experience  soon  convinces  the  teacher  that  this 
development  is  not  attainable  by  lectures  or  discussions 
alone.  The  student  must  be  given  recitation  and  drill. 
The  problem,  therefore,  resolves  itself  into  a  decision  as 
to  whether  frequent  brief  recitations  or  infrequent  long 
recitations  are  preferable,  and,  further,  as  to  whether 
there  shall  or  shall  not  be  drill  in  chorus. 

A  careful  study  of  the  problem  for  years  has  convinced 
the  writer  that  the  frequent  but  brief  oral  drill  results  in 
greater  expressional  progress  than  the  infrequent  but  long 
drill,  that  three  to  five  minutes  every  day  is  more  pro- 
ductive of  results  than  fifteen  to  twenty-five  minutes 
once  a  week,  that  five  three-minute  recitations  are  more 
beneficial  than  one  fifteen-minute  recitation.  And,  also, 
that  under  certain  conditions,  drill  in  chorus  has  its  place. 

It  is  in  the  planning  of  courses  of  instruction  in  line 
with  these  conclusions  that  we  see  the  great  pedagogic 

73 


74  THE  TONE  SYSTEM 

value  of  the  tone  principle.  The  author  here  seeks  to 
indicate,  briefly,  the  practical  application  of  this  principle. 
Each  teacher,  of  course,  will  apply  a  principle  in  that  way 
which  most  meets  his  own  particular  needs,  and  what 
follows,  therefore,  is  not  absolute.     It  is  suggestive. 

The  first  thing  the  teacher  should  do  is  to  compile  a 
list  of  emotions  and  prepare  one  to  three  examples  of 
each,  in  accordance  with  the  pedagogic  principles  set 
forth  in  Part  I.  A  little  research  will  reveal  that  there 
are  some  two  hundred  phases  of  feeling  that  can  be  treated 
in  this  manner.  The  use  of  this  number  is  advocated 
because  it  permits  of  constant  variety  in  expression, 
enabling  the  student  to  be  drilled  upon  all  shades  of 
feeling,  and  also  giving  him  valuable  exercise  in  transition. 

The  tones  that  may  be  chosen  comprise: 

Admiration,  admission,  advice,  affection,  agony,  amazement, 
ambition,  anger,  annoyance,  antithesis,  anxiety,  appeal,  appre- 
hension, appreciation,  approval,  apology,  arguing,  arrogance,  assent, 
assertion,  assurance,  authority,  aversion,  awe,  belittling,  benediction, 
bitterness,  boasting,  boldness,  bravery,  calling,  calm,  carefulness, 
caution,  challenge,  climax,  coaxing,  commendation,  complaint, 
comparison,  command,  concession,  condemnation,  concern,  confi- 
dence, confusion,  contempt,  conviction,  courage,  cowardliness, 
cruelty,  cursing,  decision,  defiance,  deference,  delight,  denial,  deri- 
sion, despair,  deprecation,  determination,  dignity,  dissatisfaction, 
discouraging,  dispraising,  disdain,  dismissal,  disappointment,  dis- 
may, disrespect,  dread,  emulation,  encouragement,  entreaty,  envy, 
excitement,  exclamation,  excuse,  execration,  exhortation,  expecta- 
tion, explanation,  exultation,  fatigue,  farewell,  fear,  feebleness, 
flattery,  foreknowledge,  frankness,  gasping,  gayety,  generosity, 
geniality,  grief,  gratitude,  horror,  impatience,  impertinence,  in- 
credulity, indignation,  indifference,  interrogation,  insolence,  irrever- 
ence, irresponsibility,  irony,  jealousy,  joy,  love,  malediction,  medita- 
tion, melancholy,  mirth,  mistrust,  modesty,  moaning,  mock-defer- 
ence, mockery,  obstinacy,  omination,  pain,  permission,  perplexity, 
persuasion,  pity,  politeness,  praise,  prejudice,  pride,  promising, 
protest,  rage,  rebuff,  recklessness,  refusal,  regret,  rejection,  reliance, 
remorse,  renunciation,  repose,  reproach,  resentment,  resignation. 


THE  TONE  DRILLS.  75 

respect,  responsibility,  reproof,  request,  retaliation,  retort,  ridicule, 
sadness,  sarcasm,  satisfaction,  scorn,  secrecy,  self-denunciation, 
shivering,  sloth,  solemnity,  solicitude,  startling,  struggling,  stubborn- 
ess,  sublimity,  suspicion,  sympathy,  terror,  thanks,  threat,  tran- 
quillity, triumph,  tyranny,  uproar,  urging, vindication,  w  arning,wel- 
come,  whispering,  woe,  wonder. 

WTiile  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  tones  there  may  be 
close  resemblance  each  will  be  found  to  have  some  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  that  justifies  its  inclusion. 

The  tones  selected,  the  next  step  is  their  illustration 
by  examples  chosen  from  every  day  conversation.  The 
author  has  done  this  in  his  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression 
with  Selections,"  and  he  here  gives  a  few  examples  taken 
from  that  book. 
Under  Admiration: — 

a — O,  look   at  those  lovely  roses!    Look   at  them! 

b — I  never  listened  to  such  beautiful  music  in  all  my  life! 
The  purity  of  it,  the  sweetness  of  it! 

c — What  a  magnificent  sunset!     Isn't  it  glorious! 
Under  Amazement: — 

a — Gone  to  be  married!     ilarried!    Well,  did  you  ever! 

b — ^What!    our    club    beaten?     It's    impossible.     Beaten?     I 
can't   believe   it. 

c — What?    The    society    will    lose    it's    charter?    The    mem- 
bers will   be  turned  out?    Disgraced?     I   am    amazed! 
Under  Awe : — 

a — Hush,  boys!    They  are  praying. 

b — Don't  speak,   he's  dying! 

c — O,  girls,  she  told  the  most  awful  lies.  It  was  terrible. 
Under  Assertion: — 

a — That  is  not  so.     It  is.     It  is  not.     It  is.     It  is  not. 

b— Stop  that.     I'll  not.     You  shall.     I'll  not.     You  shall.     I'll 
not. 

c — What  that  man  says  is  false.     He  did  do  it.     I  saw  him  do 
it,  and  he  knows  he  did  it. 

Under  Defiance: — 

a — Try  it  if  you  dare — try  it. 

b — I  defy  you,  sir;    I  defy  the  soldiers;    I  defy  you  all. 


76  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

c — Prove  it;    you  cannot.     I  challenge  you  to  prove  it. 
d — I  defy  everyone  here  to  point  out  a  single  error  in  my 
course. 

A  glance  at  the  foregoing  examples  will  show  that  the 
purpose  has  been  to  realize  the  working  principles  of 
expressional  pedagogics  as  set  forth  in  Chapter  VII,  part  I; 
that  is,  the  drills  are  framed  so  that  the  experience  and 
the  phrasing  both  come  into  the  pupil's  experience,  and 
also  suggest  a  listener.  There  has  been  observed,  also, 
the  need  of  variety,  and  of  adaptation  to  different  ages 
and  to  sex. 

Following  along  the  same  lines  with  all  of  the  tones  we 
have  a  complete  table  of  one  half  to  one  minute  colloquial 
drills.  With  these  drills  we  can  give  a  reasonably  large 
class  individual  recitation  and  individual  criticism  two 
to  three  times  each  session.  Also,  if  we  so  desire,  we  can 
give  recitation  in  chorus,  the  drills  being  so  brief,  and 
coming  so  vividly  into  the  average  experience,  that  the 
disadvantages  of  work  in  unison  are  reduced  to  a  minimum 
and  the  advantages  realized  in  the  maximum. 

The  manner  of  the  use  of  these  Drills  which  the  author 
has  found  effective  is  this: 

^•-  First,  seek  only  for  naturalness,  demanding  that  the 
delivery  be  spontaneous  and  true.  This  is  attained  by 
having  the  student  deliver  the  examples  to  a  Ustener, 
either  a  fellow  student,  the  teacher  or  the  class  as  a  whole. 
Next,  the  teacher  may  demand  vividness,  that  is, 
he  will  aim  to  secure  degrees  of  intensity  in  the  rendering, 
as  angry,  angrier,  angriest.  This  is  achieved  by  inspiring 
the  student  through  judicious  criticism,  to  stronger  en- 
deavor. 

Skill  in  vividness  attained,  the  teacher  may  seek  next 
for  completeness,  a  rendering  that  utilizes  all  the  agents 
of  expression  that,  legitimately,  can  aid  in  the  interpre- 


THE  TONE  DRILLS.  77 

tation.  To  secure  this  the  teacher  may  have  the  pupil 
render  the  drill  silently  with  only  facial  and  bodily  ex- 
pression; then  have  him  add  expression  by  voice.  Then, 
if  so  desired,  the  teacher  can  pay  attention  not  only  to 
the  complete  expression  of  the  feeling,  but  to  the  complete 
expression  of  the  thought,  including  articulation,  promi- 
nence and  pause. 

Last,  the  teacher  can  give  attention  to  ease  and  grace, 
to  art  in  the  expression,  aiming  to  secure  from  the  student 
the  maximum  of  effectiveness  with  the  minimum  of 
effort.  This  is  achieved  by  "frequency  of  rendering,  by 
seeking  for  variety  of  rendering,  and  by  criticism  in  re- 
spect to  things  overdone,  or  not  adequately  done,  or  left 
undone." 

If  the  teacher  will  approach  the  tone  drills  with  true 
enthusiasm  it  will  be  found  that  the  work  is  quickly 
productive  of  desirable  results.  He  will  notice  in  the 
student  greater  facility  of  responsiveness,  less  self-con- 
sciousness and  more  abandon,  a  greater  capacity  for 
emotional  concentration  and  intensity,  a  better  co- 
ordination of  the  expressional  organism,  and  a  fuller 
appreciation  of  the  true  scope  and  importance  of  oral 
expression.  Incidentally  there  will  be  a  quickening 
of  the  imaginative  power,  and,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
according  to  the  amount  of  drill,  a  certain  "spring  and 
brightness"  that  promotes  both  good  health  and  geniaUty. 

The  teacher  should  never  forget  the  great  stress  that 
is  placed  upon  feeling  by  the  master  psychologists,  that 
they  all  insist  that  a  quickened  power  to  feel  and  to 
respond  means  an  increase  in  physical,  intellectual,  moral 
and  spiritual  power. 

The  student  having  been  drilled  upon  the  colloquial 
examples,  the  next  step  will  be  to  drill  upon  parallels  from 
the  classical.     The  classical  examples  need  not  be  equiva- 


78  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

lents  in  the  idea  and  degree  of  feeling,  but  only  in  kind, 
our  purpose  being,  as  explained  in  Part  I,  to  impress  upon 
the  student  the  fact  that  underneath  the  unfamiliar 
phraseology  or  ideas  of  classical  Uterature  lie  feelings 
similar  to  his  own,  in  other  words,  the  purpose  here  is  to 
teach  him  to  translate  the  classical  into  terms  of  his 
experience. 

In  choosing  the  classical  parallels  we  must  select  from 
that  author  or  those  authors  whose  expression  of  emotion 
is  true — and  this  naturally  leads  us  to  select  the  major 
portion,  if  not  all,  from  Shakespeare.  He  of  all  poets 
is  real  in  his  feehng.  Also  his  lines  are  usually  objective- 
spoken  to  a  listener.  The  classical  parallels  should  be 
placed  immediately  below  the  colloquial  as  follows:* 

ADMIRATION: 

Colloquial. 

a — O,  look  at  those  lovely  roses!    Look  at  them! 

b — I  never  listened  to  such  beautiful  music  in  all  my  lifel 

The  purity  of  it!  the  sweetness  of  iti 
c — ^What  a  magnificent  sunset!    Isn't  it  glorious  I 

Classical. 

d — What  a  piece  of  work  is  man!  How  noble  in  reason! 
how  infinite  in  faculty;  in  form,  and  moving,  how  express 
and  admirable!  in  action,  how  like  an  angell  in  appre- 
hension, how  like  a  god!  the  beauty  of  the  world!  the 
paragon   of   animals!  Shakespeare,  Hamlet,  ii,  2. 

AMAZEMENT: 

Colloquial. 

a — Gone  to  be  married.     Married!    Well,  did  you  ever! 

b — What!  Our  club  beaten?  It's  impossible.  Beaten?  I 
can't   believe   it. 

c — ^What?  The  society  will  lose  its  charter?  The  members 
will  be  turned  out?    Disgraced?     I  am  amazed! 

Classical. 

d —         What!    fifty  of  my  followers  at  a  clap! 

Within  a  fortnight?       Shakespeare,  King  Lear,  i,  4. 

♦See  the  author's  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections"  for 
complete  list  of  tones  with  both  colloquial  and  classical  examples. 


THE  TONE  DRILLS.  79 

e — Gone  to  be  marriedl    Gone  to  swear  a  peace! 

False  blood  to   false   blood   joined!     Gone  to  be  friends! 
Shall   Le'uis   have   Blanch?    and   Blanch  those   provinces? 

Shakespeare,  King  John,  iii,  1. 
ANGER: 

Colloquial. 
a — You   cur!     Strike   that   little   boy   again   and   I'll   thrash 

you  on  the  spot! 
b — Angry?    Who  wouldn't  be  angrj'?    He  called  me  a  thief. 
c — Keep  calm?     I'll  not  keep  calm;    do  you  think  I  shall  see 
my  honor  attacked  and  not  resent  it?    0,  you —  you — . 

Classical. 

d — Villains!  you  did  not  so,  when  your  vile  daggers 
Hack'd  one  another  in  the  sides  of  Caesar: 
You  show'd  your  teeth  like  apes,  and  fawn'd  like  hounds, 
And  bow'd  like  bondmen,  kissing  Caesar's  feet; 
Whilst    .     .     .    Casca   like    a    cur,    behind, 
Struck  Caesar  on  the  neck.     O  you  flatterers! 

Shakespeare,  Julius  Caesar,  v,  L 

In  the  practice  of  the  classical  drills  the  teacher  will 
call  attention  to  the  fundamental  emotional  similarity  to 
the  colloquial  example,  but,  at  same  time,  will  seek 
for  the  distinctive  expression  that  the  classical  may 
demand.  Sometimes  it  is  advisable  to  refer  the  student 
to  the  Shakespearian  context. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DOMINANT  TONES. 

Concurrently  with  the  practice  of  the  Colloquial  Drills 
(or  thereafter  as  the  teacher  may  elect),  will  come  the 
reading  by  the  student  of  selections  which  have  dominant 
tones,  that  is,  selections  where  the  student  in  respect  to  a 
particular  emotion  is  kept  longer  on  the  wing  than  in  the 
colloquial  drills.  The  purpose  here  is  to  make  the  student 
more  familiar  with  the  particular  feeling  and  to  develop 
the  power  to  sustain  it  for  any  required  period. 

Making  these  selections  will  involve  a  good  deal  of 
research  and  great  care  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  The 
broader  the  knowledge  of  literature,  the  more  effective, 
of  course,  will  be  the  choice.  Also,  there  must  be  kept 
in  view  the  needs  of  the  students,  and  therefore,  selections 
should  be  made  from  poetry,  drama  and  oratory. 

The  variety  of  tones  will  not  be  so  great  here  as  in  the 
case  of  the  brief  tone  drills.  There  is  not  the  same  need, 
and,  if  there  were,  literature  does  not  always  furnish 
sustained  examples.  However,  some  fifty  to  sixty  tones 
can  be  illustrated.     Selections  can  be  found  for: 

Explanation,  geniality,  assertion,  gayety,  interrogation,  solem- 
nity, indignation,  admiration,  argument,  affection,  command, 
calmness,  appeal,  awe,  reproof,  comparison,  contrast,  challenge, 
modesty,  boldness,  determination,  encouragement,  advice,  climax, 
frankness,  excitement,  indifference,  love,  contempt,  pity,  ridicule 
grief,  sarcasm,  joy,  gloom,  aspiration,  irony,  soothing,  warning, 
sublimity,     bitterness,     condemnation,     meditation,     conviction, 

80 


DOMINANT  TONES.  81 

hatred,  horror,  belittling,  adoration,  remorse,  exultation,  despair, 
malediction,  confusion,  gasping,  moaning,  uproar,  cunning.* 

As  illustrations  of  Explanation  we  can  find  examples 
in  Victor  Hugo  ("The  Battlefield  of  Waterloo"),  Edgar 
Allan  Poe  ("A  Cottage"),  Thomas  Huxley  ("A  Piece  cf 
Chalk"),  WilHam  Shakespeare  ("Othello's  Defence");  for 
GeniaUty  we  can  find  examples  in  Hawthorne  ("A  Rill 
at  the  Town  Pump"),  Talmage  ("Agreeable  People," 
"Big  Blunders"),  also  in  Dickens,  Mark  Twain,  Shake- 
speare; for  Assertion,  selections  from  George  W.  Curtis, 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson;  for  Solemnity,  selections  from 
Edward  Everett,  William  CuUen  Bryant,  Abraham 
Lincoln;  and  so  on  throughout  the  complete  list  of  tones.* 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  method  of  compilation  results 
in  a  choice  from  Hterature  that  is  truly  comprehensive. 
The  teacher  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the 
student  who  effectively  covers  these  selections  has  had 
a  course  in  the  expression  of  feeling  that  is  thorough,  a 
course  that  does  not  confine  itself  to  a  few  emotions,  but 
affords  drill  in  all  phases  of  feeling. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  selections  for  the  use  of  the 
student,  three  principles  may  guide  us,  that  of  proceeding 
from  the  easy  to  the  hard,  that  of  variety,  and  that  of 
classification  according  to  kind  of  emotion.  The  writer 
prefers  an  arrangement  which  recognizes  ease  with  variety 
and  in  his  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections" 
uses  the  order  given  in  a  preceding  paragraph. 

The  study  of  each  selection  should  be  maintained  until 
the  pupil  can  render  the  feeling  with  the  degree  of  intensity 
and  for  the  length  of  time  required. 

As  soon  as  the  pupil  begins  to  show  a  sure  grasp  of  a 
given  tone,  both  in  the  colloquial  and  classical  examples, 
and  in  the  illustrative  selections,  the  author  has  found  it 

♦See  the  author's  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections"  in 
which  are  to  he  found  selections  illustrative  of  all  the  tones  mentio.icf!. 


82  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

desirable,  as  the  next  step,  to  have  the  student  prepare 
a  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  word  original  composition 
in  which  he  developes  an  idea  demanding  the  same  tone 
in  delivery  as  that  demanded  by  the  drill  and  selection 
he  has  studied.  This  composition  having  been  passed 
upon  by  the  teacher,  is  returned  for  improvement  if 
needed.  If  satisfactory  or  when  made  so,  the  student  is 
then  asked  to  read  it  aloud,  the  teacher  insisting  upon  the 
pupil  giving  the  true  tone.  Thus,  the  student,  by  this 
exercise,  is  made  to  read  aloud  the  product  of  his  own 
pen  and  to  do  so  with  the  proper  emotional  expression. 
In  this  way  the  pupil  is  drilled  in  the  effective  rendering 
of  his  own  composition. 

Next  the  student  is  asked  to  extemporize  the  topic, 
being  allowed,  however,  to  follow  the  main  line  of  his 
composition.  Here,  again,  the  teacher  will  insist  on  the 
tone  being  true  to  the  sentiment. 

When  several  studies  of  this  nature  are  mastered,  the 
teacher  can  then  demand  a  written  composition  in  which 
there  will  be  found  naturally,  and  in  sequence,  a  variety  of 
tones,  as  for  instance,  Joy,  Admiration,  Gayety.  Here, 
also,  the  composition  can  be  read  aloud,  then  extempor- 
ized, always  insisting  upon  the  expression  of  the  feeling. 

The  final  step  is  impromptu  work.  The  student  is  given 
(or  chooses)  a  topic  demanding  a  given  tone  (as,  topic- 
Joy;  tone- Joy),  which  then  and  there,  foroneto  two  minutes, 
must  be  developed  orally.  Again  the  teacher  will  seek 
for  the  true  expression  of  the  particular  feeling  demanded. 

The  pedagogic  value  of  the  method  here  developed  has 
proven  most  marked.  By  the  steps  that  have  been 
briefly  outlined  the  student  is  taken  through  every  phase  of 
reading  and  speaking  that  will  be  demanded  of  him  through- 
out his  career.  In  social,  business  or  professional  life  he 
must   either   read   his   composition    (or   that  of  others), 


DOMINANT  TONES.  83 

extemporize,  or  be  impromptu,  and  by  the  process  we  have 
outUned,  he  learns  in  a  way  he  never  can  forget  that  his 
greatest  effectiveness  will  be  when  he  expresses  not  only 
the  thought  but  also  the  feeling;  that  if  the  emotional 
attitude  toward  the  thought  is  one  of  gayety,  the  tone  of 
the  speaker  must  be  that  of  gayety,  if  indignation,  the 
tone  must  be  indignation,  and  so  on  throughout  the  entire 
expressional  field. 

Of  actual  work  by  students  along  these  lines  the  author 
offers  a  few  examples.  After  practice  upon  the  Tone 
Drills  and  the  selections  illustrative  of  Gayety,  one  student 
submitted  as  his  original  one  minute  composition  upon  this 
tone,  the  following: 

Hello,  Jim!  Hello,  Bob!  isn't  this  a  grand  old  morning  for 
Thanksgiving!  Let's  go  for  an  outing,  and  take  a  ramble  over  the 
hill  through  the  woods  and  down  to  the  river.  Hurrah!  Hurrah! 
Good  for  you  old  boy  John!  We'll  have  the  time  of  our  lives.  Bob, 
get  your  gun.  Jim,  call  the  dog,  and  we'll  be  off  in  a  jifTy.  Here 
Tracy!  Here  Tracy!  Run  ahead!  Listen  boys!  Listen!  That's 
Tracy  down  in  the  woods  already.  Come  on  boys!  Come  on! 
Run!    Run! 

Another  student  this: 

The  ground  is  covered  with  snow,  just  nice  for  snowballing! 
Let  us  go  out  and  have  a  game.  Hurry  up  you  slow  poke!  Let 
us  side  up  and  see  who  wins  the  battle.  Now  ready!  Don't  throw 
too  hard.  Oh,  what  fun  this  is!  Smack!  crack!  stars!  Look 
out  there!  that  was  a  hard  one.  Ouch!  Stand  like  a  wall!  Throw 
well!  Hit  your  man!  They're  going  back,  hang  to  them!  Let 
them  have  a  full  volley  I  Now  they  are  running!  The  battle  is  won! 
Hurrah!     Hurrah! 

As  illustrative  of  the  tone  of  Admiration  one  student's 

composition  was: 

The  garden  was  beautiful.  Here  and  there  was  a  fountain  gush- 
ing forth  in  gorgeous  sprays.  Sweet  scented  roses  of  all  species  and 
varieties  were  to  be  seen,  some  white,  others  red,  and  still  others  pink; 
some  large,  some  small,  some  in  full  bloom  and  others  about  to  open 
their  eyes  to  the  dawn  of  day.     Rich  with  fragrance  the  delicate 


84  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

violet  peeped  out  like  the  stars  of  heaven,  the  daisy  and  the  buttercup 
smiled  upon  the  scene  and  the  velvet  pansies  richer  in  color  and 
charm  than  the  most  delicate  silks  of  the  Orient,  mingled  in  profusion 
with  the  other  tenants  of  this  soul  inspiring  garden. 

Where  is  the  land,  this  side  of  paradise,  so  beautiful,  so  grand, 
so  magnificent  and  so  inspiring  as  the  land  of  flowers! 

As  his  Composition  illustrative  of  the  Tone  of  Awe  a 
student  handed  in  the  following: 

Have  you  ever  stopped  to  realize  how  full  of  awe  is  death. 
The  crape  on  the  door,  commands  reverence  for  the  pale  and  silent 
body  within.  Everytliing  is  as  quiet  and  stUl  as  night!  All  about 
you  is  sadness.  In  the  coffin,  calm  and  peaceful,  motionless  and 
rigid,  rests  the  body  that  only  yesterday  wasfuUof  lifeand  animation. 

The  minister  with  the  bible  in  his  hand  offers  up  prayer  for  the 
departed  soul  or  tries  to  console  the  family  in  their  sad  bereavement. 
The  pall-bearers  carry  the  casket  with  solemn  steps  to  the  hearse. 
The  grave  is  reached;  the  casket  is  lowered  into  the  grave;  a  few 
handfuls  of  dirt,  and  all  is  over.  As  we  wend  our  sad  way  home- 
ward, little  do  we  know  whose  turn  is  next,  we  know  not  what  minute 
we  will  be  called  to  depart.  So  go  the  rich,  and  the  poor,  the  great 
and  the  lowly.  Death  knows  no  preference.  Every  one  should 
so  live  that,  when  his  time  comes,  he  is  prepared  to  go  to  his 
eternal  rest. 

For  his  original  work  covering  the  tone  of  Excitement: 
The  other  afternoon  while  I  was  walking  along  one  of  the  down 
town  streets,  I  was  startled  by  a  terrific  explosion.  Another  violent 
blast  and  a  gush  of  flame  leaps  out  of  the  window  of  a  large  factory 
down  the  street.  I  hastened  to  the  fire,  the  street  was  alive  with 
people.  All  of  a  sudden  the  surging  sea  of  humanity  is  terror 
stricken  by  the  sight  of  a  little  girl,  in  the  top  story  window,  shouting 
and  screaming  for  help. 

Where  is  the  fire  department!  Why  don't  they  come  to  the 
rescue!  Has  any  one  turned  in  the  alarm!  A  clanging  is  heard  in 
the  distance,  nearer  and  nearer  comes  the  ringing  of  the  bells, 
louder  and  louder  grows  the  clatter  of  horses  hoofs,  presently  the 
fire  engines  burst  in  on  all  sides.  The  horses  foaming  and  frothing 
at  the  mouth  dash  into  the  crowds — What  a  terrible  pusliing  and 
scrambling  and  struggling  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  horses.  "Look 
out  for  the  horses!"  "Make  room  for  the  firemen!"  "come  from  a 
thousand  voices.     "Save  the  girl!"  shout  the  frightened  spectators. 


DOMINANT  TONES.  85 

"To  the  rescue,"  "the  girl!  the  girll  save  the  girl!"  "Ladder  to 
the  roof!"  cries  the  captain.  Tweiitj'  mighty  hands  seize  the  ladders 
— ^up-up-up  they  go. 

Another's  composition  to  illustrate  tone  of  Joy. 

O!  The  joys  of  Springtime!  Nature  puts  on  a  new  garb,  a  glorious 
garb!  The  vales  are  decked  with  flowers,  the  bluffs  are  adorned 
with  forests,  the  brooks  ripple  down  the  hillsides,  and  the  air  is  filled 
with  melodiovis  songs  of  birds.  And  our  hearts  are  in  harmony 
with  the  surroundings.  Dull  sloth  is  shaken  off  and  our  whole 
being  is  permeated  with  new  hopes,  new  faith,  and  new  aspirations. 

And  for  Admiration: 

I  never  beheld  such  a  beautifid  woman  in  all  my  life!  Long 
and  eagerly  had  I  searched  for  my  ideal.  This  lady  steps  upon  the 
scene.  I  almost  fall  prostrate.  Propriety  alone  saved  me  from 
exclaiming  aloud — "There  she  is!"  O!  Those  lovely  eyes,  that 
sweet  expression,  those  beautiful  tresses,  that  angel's  form!  He  is 
a  stone  who  can  remain  unsmitten  having  beheld  such  a  being!  She 
is  a  beauty,  a  paragon,  an  angel! 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  examples  that  the  practice 
by  these  students,  upon  the  Tone  Drills  and  their  illus- 
trative selections,  resulted  in  a  vivid  appreciation  of  the 
particular  feeling.  Of  course,  the  foregoing  work  is  from 
capable  students,  but  it  has  been  found  that  all  students, 
in  greater  or  less  degree,  develop  this  expressional 
appreciation. 


CHAPTER  III. 


TONAL  ANALYSIS. 


At  intervals  throughout  the  preceding  work  there  can 
be  given  exercises  in  tonal  analysis  or  Toning.  By  Toning 
is  meant  the  noting  down  by  the  student  of  all  tones 
demanded  in  the  effective  expression  of  a  selection.  This 
requires  that  the  teacher  choose  selections  from  poetry 
and  prose  characterized  by  frequent  change  of  tone.  For 
initial  work  may  be  mentioned  such  selections  as  Hemans' 
"Bernardo  del  Carpio,"  Tennyson's  ''Lady  Clare/'  "The 
Defence  of  Hofer,"  Byron's  "Waterloo." 

An  excellent  example  for  the  first  assignment  is  the 
poem  on  William  Tell,  which  begins: 

"Place  there  the  boy,"  the  tyrant  said; 

"Fix  me  the  apple  on  his  head. 

Ha!  rebel,  now! 

There's  a  fair  mark  for  your  shaft; 

To  yonder  shining  apple  waft 

An  arrow."     And  the  tyrant  laughed. 
With  quivering  brow 

Bold  Tell  looked  there;  his  cheek  turned  pale; 

His  proud  lips  throbbed  as  if  would  fail 
Their  quivering  breath. 

"Ha!  doth  he  blanch?"  fierce  Gesler  cried, 

"I've  conquered,  slave,  thy  soul  of  pride." 

No  voice  to  that  stern  taunt  replied, 
All  mute  as  death. 

86 


TONAL  ANALYSIS.  87 

As  an  example  of  a  method  of  tonal  analysis,  the  author 
gives  an  excerpt  from  his  comment  on  this  poem,  in  his 
"Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections:" 

Before  proceeding  with  the  analysis  of  part  of  this  poem  it  must 
be  clearly  understood: 

(a)  We  are  considering  the  feelings,  not  the  thoughts. 

(b)  The  phraseology  set  down  as  describing  the  states  of  feeling 
is  not  the  only  phraseology  that  could  be  used. 

(c)  The  analysis  is  not  the  only  analysis.  It  is  given  as  a 
practical  illustration  of  the  scope  and  power  of  the  tone  principle 
in  the  study  of  literature  for  the  purpose  of  interpretation. 

(d)  Conception  does  not  necessarily  demand  that  the  particular 
feeling  or  its  tone  shaU  be  written  down.  A  student  will  often 
know  the  feeliqg  aright,  but  be  unequal  to  describing  it  in  words. 

(e)  Writing  down  the  feeling,  however,  insures  greater  accuracy 
and  will  give  splendid  mental  training.  The  student  will  then  know 
that  he  knows. 

Coming  now  to  the  analysis,  it  is  first  necessary  to  determine 
the  United  Aim.  After  carefully  reading  the  poem  we  conclude 
the  author  intends  that  every  word  shall  in  some  way  contribute 
to  telling  the  story  of  William  Tell  and  the  apple — Dominant  Thought 
and  from  the  viewpoint  of  sympathy  with  Tell — Dominant  Feeling. 
This,  then,  is  our  United  Aim  which  we  shall  use  as  our  guide  and 
arbiter. 

"Place  there  the  boy." 
This  is  spoken  by  the  tyrant,  and  evidently  to  one  of  his  soldiers. 
The  feeling  here,  the  state  dominating  Gesler,  is  one  of  command; 
and  we  so  note. 

"the  tyrant  said." 
This  is  the  author  himself  speaking.  What  is  the  feeling  here? 
P'irst  we  must  refer  to  our  United  Aim.  This  decrees  that  the 
poet  intends  to  exhibit  sympathy  for  Tell.  Then  the  feeling  will  be 
one  of  indignation.  By  this  is  shown  our  opinion  of  the  tyrant  in 
placing  the  boy's  life  in  peril.  We  manifest  sympathy  for  Tell  and 
hatred  for  Gesler. 

"Fix  me  the  apple  on  his  head." 
The  feeling  here,  the  state  dominating  Gesler,  is  one  of  command. 

"Ha!  rebel,  now!" 
This  is  Gesler  to  Tell.    The  words  "ha"  and  "now"  tell  us  of  what? 


S8  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

Exultation.     Gesler  says  here  in  reality.     "At  last,  you   expert 
shooter,  I've  a  chance  to  take  the  pride  out  of  you." 

"rebel" 
Plainly  this  is  spoken  with  contempt. 

"There's  a  fair  mark  for  your  shaft;" 
Here  Gesler  does  not  mean  %\hat  he  says.     He  knows  the  mark  is 
not  fair  but  most  unfair.     Irony  is  the  state,  colored  with  taunting. 

"To  yonder  shining  apple  waft  an  arrow." 
This  is  evidently  delivered  in  a  tone  of  command. 

"And  the  tyrant  laughed." 
Here  we  must  think  a  moment.  Does  the  author  intend  that  we 
shall  utter  these  words  with  the  feeling  accompanying  ordinary 
explanation,  or  does  he  desire  something  more?  Does  he  ask  us 
to  suggest  on  "laughed"  the  sarcastic,  tantalizing  way  in  which 
Gesler  laughed,  or,  again,  does  he  wish  us  to  show  indignation  at  the 
fact  of  the  laughing,  or,  yet  again,  does  he  desire  to  convey  to  the 
listener  amazement  that  Gesler  could  actually  exhibit  glee  at  his 
devilish  scheme,  or,  still  again,  does  he  intend  indignation  to  ac- 
company delivery  of  "the  tyrant"  and  amazement  on  "laughed?" 

Here  is  a  variety  of  possibilities;  how  shall  we  decide?  We  have 
agreed  that  the  poet  intends  as  part  of  liis  United  Aim,  sympathy 
for  Tell,  hatred  of  Gesler.  Would  not  the  feeling  here  be  indig- 
nation, and  also  amazement  bordering  on  horror,  that  a  man  com- 
mands a  father  to  shoot  a  son  and  laughs  at  it?  The  words  might  be 
paraphrased  colloquially  thus,  "And  would  you  believe  it,  the 
wretch  actually  had  the  fiendishness  to  laugh."  Applying  this 
to  the  author's  words,  we  have  "And  the  tyrant"  given  with  indig- 
nation, "laughed"  with  amazement.  It  may  be  argued  that  this 
analysis  is  too  subtle,  that  one  state  only  would  underlie  these 
words;  but  if  a  story  teller  is  intense,  deeply  in  earnest,  this  variety 
of  emotion  will  be  warranted  and  natural.  It  is  asked,  would  not 
"laughed"  take  a  tone  suggestive  of  Gesler's  particular  taunting 
way,  and  the  answer  is  that  Gesler's  fiendish  proceeding  would  surely 
focus  the  attention  more  upon  the  awfulness  than  upon  the  manner. 

"With  quivering  brow 

Bold  Tell  looked  there;  his  cheek  turned  pale; 

His  proud  lips  throbbed  as  if  would  fail 

The  quivering  breath." 

Is  this  the  ordinary  calm  description?     No,  for  the  situation  is  too 

unusual,  too  intense  for  that.    The  feeling  here  is  deep  concern. 

"Ha,  doth  he  blanch?" 


TONAL  ANALYSIS.  89 

Here  we  have  fierce  exultation. 

"fierce  Gesler  cried." 
Here,  explanation  tinged  with  indignation  at  Gesler. 

"I've  conquered," 
Fiendish  exultation. 

"Slave," 
Contempt  here. 

"Thy  soul  of  pride." 
Here,  exultation  and  contempt. 

"No  voice  to  that  stern  taunt  replied — 
"All  mute  as  death." 
Is  this  calm  narration?  or  sympathy?  or  awe?  The  occasion,  surely, 
is  too  vital  to  tell  it  colloquially.  Pity  might  creep  in,  but  the 
stronger  drives  out  the  weaker,  the  mind  is  above  all  swayed  with 
the  atmosphere  of  hush,  stillness  and  concern  that  envelops  the 
occasion.     Plainly  the  feeling  is  one  of  awe. 

Tonal  Analysis  is  of  great  pedagogic  value  because  it 
compels  the  student  to  make  clear  to  the  teacher  his 
conception  of  the  feeling  in  a  selection  both  as  a  whole 
and  in  detail.  Also  when  time  does  not  permit  the  oral 
test  it  enables  the  teacher  to  have  before  him  positive 
proof  that  his  class  assignments  have  been  studied.  These 
tonal  analyses  may  be  criticised  by  the  teacher,  either 
first  and  then  handed  back  to  pupil,  or  they  may  be  made 
a  class  exercise,  each  pupil  correcting  his  own  paper  (or 
that  of  another  student  if  advisable),  and  then  handed  in 
for  the  teacher's  inspection. 

Following  are  examples  of  actual  work  of  students  in 
Tonal  Analysis^ 


90 


THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 


7 


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♦— •.--»-«-'*'^*-^ 


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TONAL  ANALYSIS.  91 


.^-«*itf^^^<|-«<»c<;-»'<^^<3«/y^--»'S*^, 


v^^sC^A 


S^oO. 


V 


In  the  actual  rendering  of  a  selection  when  there  is  a 
failure  to  give  the  correct  tone  the  student  should  be 
questioned  as  to  the  feeling,  and  if  he  correctly  states  it, 
and  still  fails  to  render  it — he  should  then  be  asked  to 
reduce  the  idea  to  terms  of  his  own  experience  emotionally 
in  accordance  with  the  Colloquial  drills.    This  usually 


92  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

is  adequate.  If,  however,  he  is  unable  to  do  this,  then, 
and  then  only,  should  the  teacher  directly  aid  him.  Con- 
stantly the  student  should  be  trained  to  see  the  emotional 
significance  of  the  idea  he  is  expressing. 


PART  III. 
THE  EXPRESSION  OF  THOUGHT. 


CHAPTER  I. 


PROMINENCE  AND  PAUSE. 


For  the  effective  expression  of  thought  as  distinguished 
from  feehng  there  must  be  recognized  and  applied  three 
symbols,  Prominence,  Articulation  and  Pause.  Articu- 
lation (which  includes  Pronunciation),  gives  to  sounds 
singly  or  combined  their  differentiation — words,  Promin- 
ence gives  to  words  their  relative  importance,  and  Pause 
indicates  their  connection.  Stating  it  broadly,  Articula- 
tion is  the  symbol  of  individuality.  Prominence  the  symbol 
of  value  and  Pause  the  symbol  of  relationship.  These 
three  symbols  are  tangible  quantities.  They  may  be 
understood  and  applied  by  even  the  elementary  student, 
and  as  naturalness  and  po  wer  in  the  expression  of  thought 
is  dependent  upon  their  adequate  recognition  the  teacher 
should  make  such  recognition  an  especial  concern. 

With  respect  to  Pause,  the  teacher  by  oral  example 
will  show  the  pupil  how  the  varying  length  of  silences  in 
speech  indicate  to  the  listener  the  kinship  of  words,  how, 
for  example,  a  longer  pause  after  "deep"  than  after  the 
other  words  in  "deep  and  dark  blue  ocean"  tells  us  that 
the  ocean  was  deep,  and  of  a  dark  blue,  how  the  longer 
pause  coming  after  dark,  makes  the  ocean  a  blue  ocean 
that  is  deep  and  dark,  and  how  the  longer  pause  after 
"blue"  makes  it  an  ocean  deep  and  dark  blue.  The  teacher 
will  emphasize,  also  by  oral  illustration,  how  this  variation 
in  pause  really  marks  the  words  off  into  phrases  or  groups, 

05 


96  THE  TONE   SYSTEM. 

and  he  will  point  out  and  illustrate  that  the  groups  in 
intelligent  spontaneous  utterance  are  in  reality  all  the 
words  necessary  to  one  another  to  make  a  definite  idea  or 
definite  part  of  an  idea  as  "It  will  rain,"  definite  idea, 
"  'It  will  rain'  John  remarked,"  definite  parts. 

While  in  the  main,  these  groups  are  marked  off  by 
punctuation,  there  is  usually  a  number  left  to  the  student's 
judgment.  The  teacher  will  choose  selections  containing 
a  goodly  number  of  unpunctuated  groups  and  will  have 
the  students  indicate  them,  sometimes  orally,  and  some- 
times by  written  exercise. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  special  function  of  grouping  is 
to  aid  in  making  the  thought  inteUigible.  It  joins  and 
separates  words  by  the  law  of  relationship  so  that  the 
Hstener  will  have  less  difficulty  in  grasping  the  idea  as  a 
whole,  and,  it  may  be  asserted,  that  that  grouping  is  the 
best  which,  in  the  shortest  time,  most  makes  clear  the 
meaning. 

If  the  function  of  grouping  is  clearness  that  of  Promin- 
ence is  vividness.  Prominence  may  be  defined  as  that 
particular  phase  of  utterance  which  makes  a  word  or 
words  stand  out.  Its  effect  upon  the  listener  is  that  of 
added  importance;  he  understands  that  the  idea  conveyed 
in  the  words  or  phrase  made  prominent  is  of  greater  value 
than  that  in  the  word  or  words  given  with  less  prominence. 
Prominence  is  usually  attained  by  increased  force,  but 
sometimes  it  may  be  attained  with  less  force.  The 
essential  characteristic  is  vividness  by  contrast. 

Analysis  of  selections  with  reference  to  prominence 
should  be  carried  on  simultaneously  with  the  group  analy- 
sis; in  fact  it  will  be  found  that  exercise  in  prominence  is 
largely  a  matter  of  the  determination  of  the  relative  value 
of  the  groups.     For  this  twofold  analysis  the  author  has 


PROMINENCE  AND  PAUSE.  97 

found  no  better  example  for  initial  work,  than  the  story 
of  Belshazzar's  feast  in  Daniel,  fifth  chapter. 

The  standard  of  test  in  respect  to  what  should  or  should 
not  be  made  prominent,  is,  of  course,  the  intent  of  the 
author — what  does  the  WTiter  or  speaker  seek  most  to 
convey,  and  what  word  or  words  are  indispensable  to  the 
conveyance  of  this  essential  thought.  The  application  of 
this  test  can  be  illustrated  by  the  opening  lines  from 
Hamlet's  "Instruction  to  the  Players:" 

"Speak  the  speech  I  pray  you,  as  I  pronounced  it  to  you,  trip- 
pingly on  the  tongue;  but,  if  you  mouth  it,  as  many  of  our  players 
do,  I  had  as  lief  the  town  crier  spoke  my  lines." 

What  is  to  Hamlet  most  vital  in  the  foregoing  sentence? 
What  is  it  he  wants  the  players  to  fix  deeply  in  their 
minds  and  moreover  to  practically  apply?  The  answer 
must  be  to  "speak  the  speech  trippingly  on  the  tongue." 
Hamlet  could  leave  out  all  the  rest  of  the  sentence  and  yet 
convey  his  desire  to  the  players.  The  remainder  simply 
elaborates,  makes  plainer,  the  main  idea.  Thus  "speak 
the  speech"  and  "trippingly  on  the  tongue"  demand  the 
most  prominence  in  the  sentence.  "As  I  pronounced  it 
to  you,"  "if  you  mouth  it,"  "I  had  as  lief  the  town  crier 
spake  my  lines,"  are  the  groups  that  demand  the  secondary 
prominence.  "I  pray  you"  and  "as  many  of  our  players 
do"  are  the  least  important,  almost  unnecessary. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  phases  of  Pause  and 
Prominence  than  those  considered  here.  These  are  dis- 
cussed and  illustrated,  in  a  practical  way,  in  the  author's 
"Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections." 


CHAPTER  II. 

ARTICULATION. 

With  regard  to  Articulation  it  is  the  experience  of  the 
author  that  excellence  in  this  field  is  most  quickly  attained 
by  the  use  of  the  principle  of  Comparison  and  Contrast. 
The  confusion  of  the  sound  t  or  d  for  th,  of  s  for  z,  zh  for 
sh,  V  for  w  and  so  on,  is  best  remedied  by  placing  before 
the  student  in  juxtaposition  the  confused  sounds,  and  also 
words  in  which  these  confused  sounds  appear. 

Next  in  importance  to  this  principle  of  comparison  and 
contrast  in  securing  correctness  and  finish  in  articulation 
comes  drill  in  accent.  By  this  is  meant  that  there  is 
selected  a  series  of  words  whose  accented  syllable  contains 
the  fault  of  the  student,  and  in  the  utterance  of  these 
words  these  accented  syllables  are  attacked  vigorously. 

The  application  of  these  principles  can  be  seen  in  the 
author's  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections," 
from  which  the  following  is  an  illustration: 

DRILLS  ON  SELECTED  CONSONANTS.* 
T,  Th,  D. 

t  as  in  toot, 
th  as  in  thick,  myth, 
th  as  in  though,  smooth, 
d  as  in  did. 

•From  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections"  in  which  work 
complete  drills  are  to  be  found. 

98 


ARTICULATION 


99 


Errors  in  Pronunciation: 

t  sometimes  incorrectly  sounded  like  d  in  dun  and  fad. 

d  sometimes  incorrectly  sounded  like  t  in  tin  and  fit. 

th  in  thick  and  myth  sometimes  incorrectly  sounded 
like  th  in  smooth  and  though. 

th  in  though  and  smooth  sometimes  incorrectly  sounded 
like  th  in  thick  and  myth. 

Distinction  Drill: 

(a)  sooth,    soothe;    bath,    bathe;    both,    booth;    breath, 

breathe;  thank,  than;  think,  then;  thatch,  that. 

tin,  din;  ten,  den;  tot,  dot;  tart,  dart. 

Utter  the  following  vigorously: 


(b) 
thin,  tin,  din 
than,  tan,  Dan 
thank,  tank,  dank 
those,  toes,  doze 
thread,  tread,  dread 
thigh,  tie,  die 
the,  tee,  dee 
their,  tare,  dare 
thicket,  ticket 
theme,  team,  deem 
then,  ten,  den 
thick,  tick,  Dick 

(d) 
not  thatch  but  thatcheth 
not  tether  but  tethereth 
not  theorize  but  theorizeth 
not  thicken  but  thickeneth 
not  thieve  but  thieveth 
not  thin  but  thinneth 
not  thirst  but  thirsteth 
not  thrash  but  thrasheth 


(c) 
dead,  debt,  death 
heed,  heat,  heath 
shed,  sheet,  sheath 
need,  neat,  beneath 
had,  hat,  hath 
ladder,  latter,  lather 
bode,  boat,  both 
ore,  oat,  oath 
pad,  pat,  path 
broad,  brought,  broth 
rod,  rot,  wroth 
hard,  heart,  hearth 

(e) 
to  the  two  that  thatcheth 
to  the  two  that  tethereth 
to  the  two  that  theorizeth 
to  the  two  that  thickeneth 
to  the  two  that  thieveth 
to  the  two  that  thinneth 
to  the  two  that  thirsteth 
to  the  two  that  thrasheth 


100  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

not  thread  but  threadeth      to  the  two  that  threadeth 
not  threaten  but  threatenethto  the  two  that  threateneth 
not  throw  but  throweth        to  the  two  that  throweth 
not  thrill  but  thrilleth  to  the  two  that  thrilleth 

not  thrive  but  thriveth         to  the  two  that  thriveth 
not  throb  but  throbeth         to  the  two  that  throbeth 
not  throttle  but  throttleth    to  the  two  that  throttleth 
not  thrum  but  thrumeth       to  the  two  that  thrumeth 
not  thrust  but  thrusteth       to  the  two  that  thrusteth 
not  thwart  but  thwarteth     to  the  two  that  thwarteth 
not  thunder  but  thunderethto  the  two  that  thundereth 
not  thwack  but  thwacketh   to  the  two  that  thwacketh 
Accent  Drill: 

(a).  Tutored,  tortured,  tattered,  tittered,  tettered,  tot- 
tered, torrid,  torrent,  abated,  abetted,  attainted,  attuned, 
attired,  tautology,  tabouret,  taciturn,  tact,  tactics,  tanta- 
mount, tertiary,  tether,  strait,  tincture. 

(b).  Didactic,  death,  defeating,  dedicate,  dedication, 
deodorize,  data. 
Sentences: 

(a).  To  do  the  truth  daily  try  to  think  the  truth. 

(b).  To  dare,  to  do,  to  die. 

(c).  Two  duties  do. 

(d).  He  ate  edible  tamarinds. 

(e).  They  threaten  to  not  abate  one  jot  or  tittle. 

(f).  To  think  the  thought  is  theoretically  to  tell  the 
thought,  though  this  thinking  the  thought  telleth  not  the 
tale  thoroughly. 

(g).  Theophilus  Thistle,  the  successful  thistle  sifter, 
thrust  three  thousand  thistles  through  the  thick  of  his 
thumb;  see  that  thou  thrust  not  three  thousand  thistles 
through  the  thick  of  thy  thumb. 


APPENDIX. 


METHOD    OF    STUDY    AND    PRACTICE    OF    EX- 
PRESSION.* 

METHOD  OF  STUDYING  A  SELECTION. 

1.  Determine  the  United  Aim: 

(a).  The  Dominant  Thought.  What  does  the 
selection  aim  to  show,  prove,  tell,  etc.? 

(b).  The  Dominant  Feeling.  What  is  the  emo- 
tional attitude  of  the  author  (or  character) 
towards  the  Dominant  Thought? 

2.  Determine  the  Groups.     What  words  are  closely  related? 

3.  Determine  the  Ideas    (and  Their  Words)    that   Demand 

(a)  Prominence,  (b)  Pause. 

4.  Determine  the  Tones  in  Which  the  Various  Ideas  Should 

Be  Delivered.     What  are  the  various  feelings  in  the 
selection  and  what  tones  will  best  show  these? 

5.  Make   the    Ideas    Yours.     Understand    with    absolute 

clearness  every  idea  in  the  selection. 

6.  Make  the  Feelings   Yours.     Exercise  the  imagination 

upon  every  idea.     Go  into  your  own  experience 
and  see  if  the  emotion  has  not  been  yours  in  some 
simple  form. 
(Groups  may  be  indicated  by  parentheses,  prominent 
words  by  underlining,  tones  by  marginal  notes.) 

METHOD    OF   PRACTICING   DELIVERY. 

1.  Have  a  listener.     If  impracticable,  imagine  one. 

•From  "Natural  Drills  In  Expression  with  Selections." 

103 


104  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

2.  Tell  ideas,  not  words. 

3.  Intensely  desire  to  have  the  idea  grasped  by  listener. 

4.  Aim  to  convey  to  the  listener  the  feelings  in  the 
selection.  Manifest  vividly  the  true  feeling  toward  the 
ideas  expressed. 


II. 


EXAMPLE  OF  METHOD  OF  ARRANGEMENT  OF 
SELECTIONS,  SUGGESTED  IN  PART  II* 

TONE  OF  ADMIRATION. 

(See  Tone  DrUl  No.  1.) 
[The  tone  of  Admiration  proclaims  the  speaker's  great 
dehght  or  pleasure  in  the  person  or  thing  contemplated. 
It  has  a  tinge  of  Amazement.] 

The  Ice  Storm. 

MARK   TWAIN. 

After  all,  there  are  at  least  one  or  two  things  about 
New  England  weather  (or,  if  you  please,  effects  produced 
by  it),  which  we  residents  would  not  hke  to  part  with.  If 
we  had  not  our  bewitching  autumn  foliage,  we  should  still 
have  to  credit  the  weather  with  one  feature  which  compen- 
sates for  all  its  bullying  vagaries — the  ice-storm — when  a 
leafless  tree  is  clothed  with  the  ice  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top — ice  that  is  as  bright  and  clear  as  crystal;  every 
bough  and  twig  is  strung  with  ice  beads,  frozen  dew-drops, 
and  the  whole  tree  sparkles,  cold  and  white,  hke  the  Shah 
of  Persia's  diamond  plume. 

Then  the  wind  waves  the  branches,  and  the  sun  comes 
out  and  turns  all  these  myriads  of  beads  and  drops  to 
prisms,  that  glow,  and  hum  and  flash  with  all  manner  of 
colored  fires,  which  change  and  change  again,  with  incon- 

♦Taken  from  the  author's  "Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections." 

105 


106  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

ceivable  rapidity,  from  blue  to  red,  from  red  to  green,  and 
green  to  gold;  the  tree  becomes  a  sparkling  fountain,  a 
very  explosion  of  dazzling  jewels,  and  it  stands  there  the 
acme,  the  chmax,  the  supremest  possibility  in  art  or  nature 
of  bewildering,  intoxicating,  intolerable  magnificence! 
One  cannot  make  the  words  too  strong. 

Month  after  month  I  lay  up  hate  and  grudge  against 
the  New  England  weather;  but  when  the  ice-storm  comes 
at  last,  I  say:  "There,  I  forgive  you  now;  the  books  are 
square  between  us;  you  don't  owe  me  a  cent;  go  and  sin 
some  more;  your  Httle  faults  and  foibles  count  for  nothing; 
you  are  the  most  enchanting  weather  in  the  world." 

God  and  Beauty. 

RICHARD    S.    STORRS,  JR. 

How  perfectly  replete  is  God's  mind  with  all  the  laws 
and  types  of  beauty. 

We  go  into  a  collection  of  flowers  and  fruits,  like  those 
which  we  often  see  exhibited  in  the  city  or  populous 
village,  and  there  observe  the  innumerable  varieties  of 
color  and  of  form  assembled  before  us.  Crimson,  purple, 
scarlet,  violet,  every  possible  shade  and  tint  of  the  green, 
the  purest  white,  the  richest,  most  velvety  dark-blue  or 
black,  pearl  color,  gold  color,  lilac,  vermillion,  shades  that 
melt  into  and  are  lost  in  each  other,  shades  that  are  far 
too  delicate  to  be  defined  by  the  relatively  coarse  apparatus 
of  words — all  are  here,  in  inexhaustible  richness,  in  seem- 
ingly inextricable  confusion  and  medley,  yet  in  really 
absolute  proportion  and  harmony.  Very  often  several 
are  combined  in  one  flower;  and  always  when  combined,  in 
most  beautiful,  even  musical,  agreement  and  concord. 
The  cup  of  the  blossom  is  of  white,  edged  with  crimson; 
the  petals  are  of  scarlet,  drooping  gracefully  out  of  their 
silver  sheath;  and  even  these  are  tufted  and  crested  at  the 


EXAMPLE  OF  METHOD  107 

end  as  if  by  a  patient,  assiduous  tastcfulness  that  could 
not  let  them  go,  with  a  golden  finish. 

We  try  to  make  the  flower  immortal  and  almost  pine 
because  it  is  not.  We  would  stop,  if  we  could,  the  steady 
and  silent  wheels  of  time,  before  they  crushed  the  fragile 
glory.  God  will  not  let  the  flower  live  because  he  has 
another  yet  nobler  thought,  of  more  complete  beauty, 
which  he  would  show  us.  He  hangs  around  such  sights  of 
beauty  the  stately  grace  and  majesty  of  the  earth — its 
woods  and  plains,  its  streams  and  seas,  the  sunshine  flash- 
ing over  all,  the  sunsets  gorgeous  in  their  pomp  of  pillared 
amethyst,  opal,  gold.  He  pours  the  beauty  of  the  moon- 
light, even  upon  a  resting  world,  weird  and  fantastic,  yet 
lovely  as  a  dream.  He  spreads  the  infinite  canopy  of  the 
night,  and  touches  it  everywhere  with  dots  of  splendor. 
He  makes  each  season  a  moving  panorama  of  sights  and 
sounds,  of  brilliant  gleams  or  fragrant  odors,  full,  constant- 
ly, of  beauty  to  him  who  studies  it. 

He  does  not  do  this  for  the  observation  of  man  alone, 
remember;  he  does  it  for  the  utterance  of  his  own  interior 
and  spontaneous  thought.  The  whole  creation  teems  thus 
with  beauty,  because  his  own  mind  teems  with  it  ever- 
more. He  fills  the  forest  depths,  which  no  man  sees,  with 
foliage,  yearly  reproduced  and  yearly  lost,  age  after  age; 
with  blossoming  vines;  with  brilliant  and  tuneful  birds; 
with  grasses  and  mosses,  all  delicate  and  all  transient.  He 
paves  the  sea  itself  with  shells,  and  edges  the  coasts  with 
coral  reefs,  and  makes  the  fish,  which  no  man  sees  except 
through  some  strange  violence  of  storms,  a  very  mirror 
of  every  tint  most  sumptuous  and  splendid.  In  the  midst 
of  the  forests,  in  the  depths  of  the  solid  structure  of  the 
tree,  he  hides  the  curling  and  delicate  grains  which  art 
laboriously  searches  out  and  displays.  Amid  rough  rocks 
he  drops  the  diamond;  under  the  rude  and  earthly  shell, 


108  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

he  spreads  the  sheen  of  precious  pearl;  around  gray  cliffs 
the  modest  harebells  wreathe  their  necklace  at  his  com- 
mand. The  tiniest  insect  is  covered  over  with  beauty, 
his  wings  inlaid  and  plaited  with  gold,  his  breast  and  crest 
tipped  with  silver  and  pearl,  the  infinitesimal  lines  of  his 
eye  burnished  beyond  all  human  art! 

And  then  God  goes  to  other  worlds,  with  his  united 
creative  energy,  and  there  he  erects  a  still  different  struc- 
ture. He  lays  the  very  foundations  differently,  of  masses 
and  proportions,  that  he  may  build  the  whole  edifice  anew, 
and  may  spread  with  the  same  divine  prodigality  another 
series  of  inimitable  decorations. 

The  Vale  of  Cashmere. 

THOMAS   MOORE. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  the  Vale  of  Cashmere, 

With  its  roses  the  brightest  that  earth  ever  gave, 
Its  temples,  and  grottos,  and  fountains  as  clear 

As  the  love-lighted  eyes  that  hang  over  their  wave? 
Oh  to  see  it  at  sunset, — when  warm  o'er  the  Lake 

Its  splendour  at  parting  a  summer  eve  throws. 
Like  a  bride,  full  of  blushes,  when  lingering  to  take 

A  last  look  of  her  mirror  at  night  ere  she  goes! — 
When  the  shrines  through  the  foliage  are  gleaming  half- 
shown. 
And  each  hallows  the  hour  by  some  rites  of  its  own. 
Here  the  music  of  prayer  from  a  minaret  swells. 

Here  the  Magian  his  urn,  full  of  perfume,  is  swinging, 
And  here,  at  the  altar,  a  zone  of  sweet  bells 

Round  the  waist  of  some  fair  Indian  dancer  is  ringing. 
Or  to  see  it  by  moonlight, — when  mellowly  shines 
The  hght  o'er  its  palaces,  gardens,  and  shrines; 
When  the  water-falls  gleam,  like  a  quick  fall  of  stars. 
And  the  nightingale's  hymn  from  the  Isle  of  Chenars 


EXAJIPLE  OF  METHOD  109 

Is  broken  by  laughs  and  light  echoes  of  feet 

From  the  cool,  shining  walks  where  the  young  people  meet, — 

Or  at  morn,  when  the  magic  of  daylight  awakes 

A  new  wonder  each  minute,  as  slowly  it  breaks, 

Hills,  cupolas,  fountains,  called  forth  every  one 

Out  of  darkness,  as  if  but  just  born  of  the  Sun. 

When  the  Spirit  of  Fragrance  is  up  with  the  day, 

From  his  Haram  of  night-flowers  stealing  away; 

And  the  wind,  full  of  wantonness,  woos  like  a  lover 

The  young  aspen-trees,  till  they  tremble  all  over. 

WTien  the  East  is  as  warm  as  the  light  of  first  hopes, 

And  Day,  with  his  banner  of  radiance  unfurled. 
Shines  in  through  the  mountainous  portal  that  opes, 

Subhme,  from  that  Valley  of  bliss  to  the  world! 

Cleopatra's  Barge. 

WILLIAM    SHAKESPEAKE, 

The  barge  she  sat  in,  hke  a  burnish'd  throne, 

Burn'd  on  the  water:  the  poop  was  beaten  gold; 

Purple  the  sails,  and  so  perfumed  that 

The  winds  were  love-sick  with  them;  the  oars  were  silver, 

Which  to  the  tune  of  flutes  kept  stroke  and  made 

The  water  which  they  beat  to  follow  faster, 

As  amorous  of  their  strokes.     For  her  own  person, 

It  beggar'd  all  description:  she  did  lie 

In  her  pavilion,  cloth-of-gold  of  tissue, 

O'er-picturing  that  Venus  where  we  see 

The  fancy  out- work  nature:  on  each  side  her 

Stood  pretty  dimpled  boys,  like  smiling  Cupids, 

With  divers-colour'd  fans,  whose  wind  did  seem 

To  glow  the  delicate  cheeks  which  they  did  cool. 

And  what  they  undid  did. 

Her  gentlewomen,  like  the  Nereides, 

So  many  mermaids,  tended  her  i'  the  eyes, 


110  THE  TONE  SYSTEM. 

And  made  their  bends  adornings:  at  the  helm 
A  seeming  mermaid  steers:  the  silken  tackle 
Swell  with  the  touches  of  those  flower-soft  hands, 
That  yarely  frame  the  office.     From  the  barge 
A  strange  invisible  perfume  hits  the  sense 
Of  the  adjacent  wharfs.     The  city  cast 
Her  people  out  upon  her;  and  Antony, 
Enthroned  i'  the  market-place,  did  sit  alone, 
Whisthng  to  the  air;  which,  but  for  vacancy, 
Had  gone  to  gaze  on  Cleopatra  too, 
And  made  a  gap  in  nature. 

i — Antony  and  Cleopatra,  ii.,  2. 


III. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  TOPICS  FOR  SPEECHES  WITH 
DOMINANT  TONES* 

I.  Admiration: 

1.  The  garden  was  beautiful. 

2.  The  music  was  beautiful. 

3.  The  sunset  was  beautiful. 

4.  The  scenerj'-  was  beautiful. 

5.  It  was  a  beautiful  picture. 

6.  She  vv^as  a  beautiful  woman. 

7.  "Washington. 

8.  Ul3'sses  Grant. 

9.  The  United  States. 

II.  Affection: 

1.  Lincoln  wins  our  affection. 

2.  Children  are  lovable. 

3.  Mother. 

4.  Sister. 

III.  Indignation: 

1.  Child  Labor  is  shameful. 

2.  Bribery  deserves  condemnation. 

3.  The  assassin. 

IV.  Aversion  and  Disgust: 

1 .  Drunkenness  is  disgusting. 

2.  Laziness  should  be  shunned. 

3.  The  sneak. 

4.  Prejudice. 

*From  the  author's  "Effective  Speaking." 

Ill 


112  THE  TONE  SYSTEM 

V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII 


IX. 


X. 


XL 


XII. 


XIII. 


Awe: 
1. 
2. 

Death  is  awful. 
The  Universe. 

Condemnation,  solemn: 

1.  Thoughtless  actions  are  to 

2.  Unkind  words. 

be  condemned 

Condemnation,  angry: 

1.  Reckless    automobiling    deserves    condem- 

nation. 

2.  Wilful  misrepresentation  by  the  press. 

3.  The  non-enforcement  of  laws. 

.     Contempt: 

1.  The  coward  deserves  our  contempt. 

2.  The  hypocrite. 

Courai 
1. 
2. 
3. 

ge:                                    ■ 
Live  your  convictions. 
Bear  up  under  misfortune. 
Grit. 

Defiance: 

1.  Tyranny  should  be  defied. 

2.  We  should  assert  our  rights. 

Joy: 
1. 
2. 
3. 

Spring  is  full  of  joy. 

Good  news. 

The  joy  of  living. 

Emulation: 

1.  Aim  high. 

2.  Ideals. 

[.     Dread: 

1.  A  plague  is  to  be  dreaded. 

2.  A  flood. 

3.  An  earthquake. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  TOPICS  113 

4.  Ci\il  war. 

5.  Anarchy. 

6.  Panic. 

XIV.  Encouragement : 

1.  Every  cloud  has  a  silver  lining. 

2.  Steady  push  wins.  ,    \ 

3.  Never  say  die.       ^^A*/      ^^f^f^    -  • 

XV.  Gloom: 

1.  It  was  a  gloomy  day. 

2.  The  future  of  the  drunkard  is  dark. 

XVI.  Excitement: 

1.  There  was  great  excitement  at  the  fire. 

2.  A  race. 

3.  A  baseball  game. 

XVII.  Uproar: 

1.  There   was   great   uproar   at   the   meeting. 

2.  A  storm, 

3.  A  battle. 

XVIII.  Gayety: 

1.  There  was  great  fun  at  the  picnic. 

2.  He  was  full  of  fun  and  frolic. 

3.  A  romp. 

XIX.  Generosity. 

1.  He  exhibited  great  self  sacrifice. 

2.  Giving  to  the  needy. 

XX.  Grief: 

1.  His  failure  in  business  caused  great  grief. 

2.  The  loss  of  a  dear  friend. 

3.  The  year-old  orphan. 

4.  The  mother's  loss  of  her  only  child. 


114  THE  TONE  SYSTEM 

XXI.     Horror: 


1.     Shipwreck  has  its  horrors. 

2.     Torture. 

3.     CannibaUsm. 

4.     The  horrors  of  war. 

5.     Dehrium  tremens. 

XXII. 

Denunciation: 

1.  Cheating  deserves  denunciation. 

2.  The  tyranny  of  monopoly. 

3.  The  confidence  man. 

XXIII. 

Love: 

1.  Our  mother  deserves  our  love. 

2.  One's  sweetheart. 

3.  One's  vdfe. 

XXIV. 

Mahce: 

1.  May  evil  come  to  evil  doers. 

2.  The  "hold-up." 

3.  The  traitor. 

XXV. 

Mirth: 

1.  The  incident  was  mirthful. 

2.  Pranks. 

3.  Fun. 

XXVI. 

Modesty: 

1.  He  possessed  true  modesty. 

2.  The  modesty  of  Lincoln. 

XXVII. 

Omination: 
L     There  are  signs  of  a  great  storm. 

2.  The  day  of  reckoning. 

3.  Judgment  day. 

XXVIII.     Pain. : 

1.     That  course  will  break  your  mother's 

heart 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  TOPICS  115 

2.  Injuring  your  country. 

3.  Ruining  your  children. 

XXIX.  Pity: 

1.  The  poor  have  many  sorrows. 

2.  The  uncared  for. 

3.  The  Wind. 

XXX.  Rage: 

1.  He  slandered  a  defenseless  woman. 

2.  Torturing  the  innocent. 

XXXI.  Regret: 

1.  You  have  caused  unnecessary  suffering. 

2.  Your   unintentional    misrepresentation    has 

caused  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 

XXXII.  Remorse: 


1. 

You  have  ruined  an  innocent  man. 

XXXII] 

_ , 

Ridicule: 

I. 

The  fop  is  ridiculous. 

2. 

Superstition. 

3. 

The  number  thirteen. 

4. 

Friday. 

5. 

Ghosts. 

XXXIV 

, 

Sadness : 

1. 

It  was  a  sad  death. 

2. 

The  sad  hours. 

XXXV. 

Sarcasm: 

1. 

The   gentleman  showed 
sion  (?)." 

great  "condescen- 

2. 

He  showed  great  "loyalty  (?)." 

XXXVI 

, 

Scorn: 

1. 

The  bribe  giver  deserves 

our  abhorrence. 

2. 

The  grafter. 

3. 

The  hypocrite. 

116 


THE  TONE  SYSTEM 


XXXVII.     Solemnity: 

1.    There  is  something  solemn  about  the  riddle 


of  hfe. 

2.    The  death  watch. 

iXX 

:VIII.     Sublimity: 

1.    The  ocean  is  sublime. 

2.     The  Heavens. 

3.    The  vast  mountain  ranges 

XXXIX.     Warning: 

1.  Overconfidence  is  dangerous. 

2.  The  dangers  of  the  hour. 


Natural  Drills  in  Expression  with  Selections. 

By  ARTHUR  EDWARD  PHILLIPS,  Author  of  "Effective  Speaking,"  "The 

Tone  System,"  etc..   Director,  Department  of  Public  Speaking,   the 

Theological  Seminary  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  at 

Chicago;  Principal,  Phillips  School  of  Oratory,  Chicago. 


PARTIAL  CONTENTS. 
The  value  of  the  Tone  Drills,  the  Tone  Drills,  Developing  Specific 
Powers  of  Portrayal,  General  Drills  on  Tones,  Tone  Drills  for  Vocal 
Development,  Interpretation,  Toning  a  Selection,  Thought  in  Ex- 
pression, Drills  in  Prominence,  English  Pronunciation,  Articulation, 
Vocal    Development,    Vocal    Drills,    Breathing    Exercises,    Bodily 
Development  and  Responsiveness,  Method  of  Study  and  Practice  of 
Expression.     STUDIES  IN  DOMINANT  TONES,  Selections  from 
Poetry,  Drama  and  Oratory,  covering  over  iijty  phases  feeling,  mak- 
ing a  complete  course  in  expression.     STUDIES  IN  VARIETY  OF 
TONE,  STUDIES  IN  PAUSE,  Pause  and  the  Infrequent,  Pause  and 
Involved  Construction,  Pause  and  Long  Sentence,  Pause  and  the 
Picture,  Pause  and  the  Unusual,  Pause  and  Leading  Statement, 
Pause  and  Large  Content,  Pause  and  Thought  Emphasis,  Pause  and 
Silent  Reply,  Pause  and  Lapse  of  Time,  Pause  and  LTnsupported 
Statement,  Pause  and  Impressiveness,  Pause  and  the  Gathering 
and  Control  of  Emotion,  Pause  and  the  Subsistence  of  the  Emotion. 
STUDIES    IN    PROMINENCE.     Word    Prominence,    Recurrent 
Prominence,  Group  Prominence,  Prominence  of  Parts  to  Whole, 
Prominence  and  Interest,  Prominence  and  Imitation.     VARIETIES 
OF  PAUSE  AND  PROMINENCE,  EXPRESSION  and  the  GEN- 
ERAL ENDS,  Clearness,  Impressiveness,  Belief,  Action,  Entertain- 
ment.    SELECTIONS,   including   such   representative  authors   as 
Addison,  Arnold,  Bancroft,  Beecher,  Bryan,  Burke,  Byron,  Chan- 
ning,  Chatham,  Corneille,  Curran,  Curtis,  Dickens,  Eliot,  Emerson, 
Everett,  Fenelon,  Fox,  Grattan,  Hazitt,  Headley,  Hemans,  Henry, 
Hillis,   Hugo,   Hood,    Ingersoll,   Junius,   Lincoln,   Lytton,   MUton, 
Moore,  Morley,  Poe,  Scott,  Shiel,  Southey,  Storrs,  Story,  Talmage, 
Tennyson,  Twain,  Webster,  some  thirty-five  selections  from  Shake- 
speare.   

SOME  OF  THE  NEW  FEATURES. 
The  Tone  Drills,  Colloquial  and  Classical,  The  Tonal  Method 
of  Interpretation,  The  Method  of  Study  by  Dominant  Tones,  The 
Phases  of  Pause,  Expression  and  the  General  Ends. 


THE  NEWTON  COMPANY,  Chicago. 


Effective  Speaking. 

By  ARTHUR  EDWARD  PHILLIPS,  Author   of    "Natural    Drills 
pression,"  etc.,  Director,  Department  of  Public  Speaking,  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 


in  Ex- 


Church  at  Chicago;  Principal,  Phillips 
School  of  Oratorj-,  Chicago. 


THIS  "WORK  IS  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  LAWS  OP  EFFECTIVENESS  IN  THE 

CHOICE    OF   ALITERIAL   IN    SPEECH   WITH    EXAMPLES   AND    EXERCISES. 

IT  HAS  BEEN  ADOPTED  BY  REPRESENTATIVE  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES 

THROUGHOUT    THE    NATION. 


"In  'Effective  Speaking,'  a  practical  classroom  textbook  by 
Arthur  Edward  Phillips,  the  problem  of  a  book  that  will  meet  the 
demands  of  the  student  has  been  solved. 

"  'Effective  Speaking'  presents  practically  the  essentials  of  effec- 
tiveness in  all  departments  of  speaking,  whether  it  be  impressiveness, 
entertaiiunent,  convincingness,  or  persuasion.  The  training  of  the 
judgment  in  the  use  of  the  psychological  principles  that  govern  suc- 
cess in  speech  has  been  the  aim  of  Mr.  Phillips.  The  book  is  in  no 
way  experimental,  since  aU  the  principles  advanced  have  been  applied 
by  the  author  in  his  professional  work  and  by  the  student  and  man 
of  affairs.  Even  for  those  not  directly  interested  in  the  work  of 
public  speaking,  the  reading  of  the  volume,  aside  from  the  exercises, 
is    of    interest." — Chicago   Journal. 

"  'Effective  Speaking'  is  the  first  practical  classroom  textbook 
on  how  to  prepare  and  make  an  effective  address.  Mr.  Phillips'  work 
is  destined  to  replace  every  other  textbook  on  the  subject  in  every 
progressive  teacher's  classroom. — S.  H.  Clark,  Professor  of  Public 
Speaking,  Universily  of  Chicago. 

"  'Effective  Speaking'  is  a  real  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
the  subject.  It  is,  I  think,  the  most  unique  analysis  of  Public  Speak- 
ing since  the  time  of  Quiutilian. — //.  B.  Gislason,  bistructor  in  Debate 
and  Oratory,  University  of  Mintiesota. 

"I  find  'Effective  Speaking'  the  most  practical  and  helpful 
text-book  I  have  ever  used.  It  is  so  very  plain  and  practical,  so 
definite  and  psychological,  that  it  is  a  pleasure  and  an  inspiration  to 
teach  with  it." — Florence  Sherwood-Wood,  Instructor  in  Oratory, 
Syracuse   University. 

THE  NEWTON  COMPANY 

CHICAGO 


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